10 Belief Statements: I Believe…. 1. I believe that the work I do everyday matters (and is important). 2. I believe that my students push–and inspire–me to be a better version of myself each and every day. 3. I believe in never putting a damper on a student’s dream–no matter how large or small. 4. I believe that labels are limiting and students own the right to change, grow, and evolve as they see fit. 5. I believe in fostering–and…
Recently, I took some time to craft a Mission Statement and Vision Statement for my career as a school counselor (my Mission Statement), and, more holistically, for all aspects of my life (in the form of a Vision Statement). You can see them below. It is my hope that you, too, may also be inspired and emboldened to create your own statements, that will serve to encourage and motivate you in areas both inside and outside of your career. Mission…
In today’s digital age, anything hand-written on paper almost seems like a nod to times long past; an ancient relic of a previous era and time. To be sure, today’s technologies have ushered in many small and larger conveniences for people gradually over time, but maybe that makes a tangible note of thanks and gratitude all that much more potentially-impactful. With that, let’s take a look at ten reasons why thank-you notes should be an often-used resource in your toolbox–and…
I was a cross country runner throughout high school, but, this year, I did something I had never done previously in my running life: I ran 1,000 miles in a calendar year (2020). Here are my top twelve tips for distance running, along with some remarks on goal-setting and reflections on what I learned during the past twelve months of running. (Here is 2021’s follow-up article) 1. Write down your weekly mileage: I used a mini 12-month calendar bought from…
In this first of a two-part series on branding, I take a look at the Blue-Collar Counselor moniker, while also taking a trip down memory lane. The Blue-Collar Counselor Goes to School: It seems that I have always been interested in people and places. Maybe it goes back to elementary school, where, every year, I expeditiously leafed through my Social Studies books looking for all the colorful graphs, charts, maps, and pictures to study that could be contained within the…
As a brand-new counselor, the so-called learning curve can often be steep—I know it was for me. Many days can leave a new counselor wondering when they will ever get the full hang of this job; if they are truly being effective for their students; or even if they have chosen the right profession, altogether. Doubt; feelings of inadequacy; and imposter syndrome tendencies can often rear their ugly heads on a seemingly daily basis, so it’s important to know what…
One of the most important—and often hardest—transitions in school for students is the 8th Grade to 9th Grade (or middle school to high school) transition. Suddenly, students find themselves going from being at the highest end of the social hierarchy order in their middle school buildings to quickly having to adjust to being at the lowest end of the hierarchy order in a brand new, and often larger-sized, building. These students also find themselves, simultaneously, having to adjust to a…
One of America’s best-kept secrets might not be so much a secret as much as an often-overlooked, unsung hero in the landscape of higher education. That secret? The community college. Perhaps part of what makes the American college system the envy of the world is the fact that there is such a wide breadth of options—and levels of accessibility—for anyone who wants access to a college experience and education. Community colleges; public state universities; private colleges; Liberal Arts schools; colleges…
While it might be true that college interviews for high school students are not as prevalent, perhaps, as in days past, a number of institutions still extend interviews to some prospective applicants that it is serious about—or close to making a decision upon. For students, this can be equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking. Questions abound, such as: “What are they going to ask me?” “Who is going to interview me?” “How should I dress?”—just to name a few. With those…
I guess that I never really thought of myself as a first-generation student throughout most of college. I went to a smaller, not highly-competitive high school where a good number of students went on to college (whether many finished or not is another story) and a smaller, but certainly not statistically insignificant, number of students did not go to college. Most people around me did not seem to obsess over college brands, rankings, or prestige (and most of what I…