This is a sample email that I like to send out to my Seniors at about the half-way point in the school year. Please feel welcome to either borrow ideas from it or make it your own (as in whatever may be most relevant to your students and their needs). Greetings, Class of 2026 Seniors: I hope you have had a solid start to the new semester and also a great mid-winter break! Senior year can be an exciting and…
What do major holidays; spring break; summer vacation; weekends; and snow days all have in common? They are all times that school is not in session—or, in other words, down-time for both students and educators. But what if you want to do more than play video games or doom-scroll on your phone? Well, I may have an idea or two for you, if you choose to keep reading.  This list will be broken into two categories: Holistic SITs (Strategies,…
You can purchase my brand-new book by clicking on the hyperlink, below. https://www.amazon.com/School-Difference-Makers-Guidebook-College-Counselor/dp/B0FVW8ZBX4/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.RxNicDfICV-jiB9XICRZng90Qm0T8tp3QG3ll_9uRhA.H1NS5VDFYGQl08cjsm26qv06fEwwNCeG46Jv5hW2Qu0&qid=1761421585&sr=8-1
I have recently started to see a trend of greater numbers of students coming to me to share their hopes and desires of developing more (or better) friendships. Not only do I really applaud and admire students vulnerably sharing this important heart-wish, or drive, to make more deeper and meaningful connections with their peers, but it is also one of my most favorite areas to try to help my students. Making friends can be scary—especially, for brand-new students; students who…
On Thursday, September 19th, 2024, I talked with WJR Radio Host, Kevin Dietz, on ‘All Talk with Kevin Dietz’ about social media in schools; you can listen to my interview hyperlinked below: https://all-talk-with-kevin-dietz.simplecast.com/episodes/social-media-influence-in-schools-_TP9ZQWv?t=0m0s
Here we are with another book that I just had to review, because, as an educator (and school counselor, more specifically), there just don’t seem to be a lot of great books out there for students interested in pursuing a Trades career after high school. However, once I read 2020’s Millennials’ Guide to the Construction Trades: What No One Ever Told You About a Career In Construction, I knew I had finally found what I was looking for: a book…
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…