March 29, 2024 • 19 mins
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This is such a fun episode! Getting started on a new career path can often be a leap of faith, and this story is a shining example of where such a leap can land you. Meet Katie—a former teacher and current grad student who has discovered her true calling in the school counselors' office. Led to develop a meaningful and student-centered school counseling program amidst multiple natural disasters and a global pandemic, Katie speaks from the heart about her journey, her challenges, her triumphs, and ultimately- her goals for the future.
Whether you're an aspiring school counselor, new school counselor, or a seasoned pro, Katie will leave you feeling inspired and energized for your work with students.
Resources:
Hudgens, Molly. (2020). Saving Sycamore: The school shooting that never happened. Dave Burgess Consulting.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, school counselor, welcome back to
another episode of the Schoolfor School Counselors podcast.
I'm Steph Johnson, your host, afull-time school counselor just
like you, and I can't wait tointroduce you to one of my new
school counseling friends, katie.
Katie is a school counselor in aprivate Catholic school and she
(00:20):
is completing her internship atthe same time as she's
beginning building a schoolcounseling program.
She teaches a class on top ofthat, so this lady is busy, but
you're going to fall in lovewith her because you can tell as
she talks that she has so muchheart in her work.
She has such big visions andgoals and dreams for her program
(00:43):
and she has some great insightsabout what it's like to be a
new counselor, what it's like totransition from being a teacher
to a school counselor and whatthe future holds not only for
her campus but for herself as aprofessional.
Katie and I were chatting atthe beginning of this interview
(01:03):
and really didn't realize thatwe had started at all.
We were just having a good timevisiting and we'd entered kind
of an impromptu discussion onfaith and being where you're
supposed to be, and that's whereour conversation here in the
podcast is getting started.
I want you to hear what Katiehas to say about these things,
and listen as she tells you alittle bit about her path toward
(01:27):
becoming a school counselor.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I was going to say, talking about faith, like it
really rung true to me as wellwhen you said God pulls you in
different directions that youdidn't know you needed to go,
like you're doing right now.
That's exactly how I ended upin counseling.
So I had no clue what I wantedto do after college or while I
was in college I actuallystarted doing the nursing route
(01:52):
because that's what all myfriends were doing, and I almost
made it to clinicals and I waslike you know what?
I don't want to do this, and Iwant to make straight A's, so
I'm going to study Spanishinstead.
And so I switched to Spanishmajor and I was like when I
graduated I don't know what I'mgoing to do with this, so I'm
going to teach.
And then, with teaching, I waslike I don't know if I want to
(02:14):
keep doing this.
And then I got pulled into thecounseling office.
So that's where I'm at now.
We're a private high school andit's the only private Catholic
high school in my town.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So we can imagine that being at a private Catholic
school means it's probably kindof small, and when we work in
private schools just in general,or in small towns, the rule
about everyone pitches in seemsto apply exponentially more than
in other settings.
I asked Katie if she's noticedthat everybody has to do some
(02:52):
things on her campus that theydidn't really anticipate having
to be responsible for when theygot started, just to keep
everything rolling at school.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely.
We don't have a head officehelping with transcripts or
helping with curriculum andlesson planning.
It's all on us and we do it all.
Our situation is unique to theschool that I'm at because in
2020, the same year as COVID wealso had two hurricanes hit our
town and completely destroy ourcampus.
So we're all in temporarybuildings.
(03:24):
So, as you can imagine, we'retrying to raise funds and try to
get FEMA to pay for our newcampus.
So we're tight everywhere.
So everybody's not just me.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Y'all did you catch that Two hurricanes, count them
one.
Two hit her town, completelydestroying the campus.
At the the same time, the wholeentire world was dealing with
COVID.
I cannot even imagine thelevels of trauma that are at
(03:55):
play for not only students buteveryone in the community.
I asked her if it felt likeeveryone around her had been
feeling like things were justcompletely out of control.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Absolutely, and that was when I was in the classroom
full time and I noticed that'swhat I was doing.
I was counseling kids throughtrauma as a teacher and that
really spoke to me and I feltthe rapport build with the
students and, like man, I wouldmuch rather do that than
discipline them for not wearingthe right color shoes.
(04:28):
So even though it was traumaticand it still lingers on like
still a lot of students are intemporary homes or waiting to
rebuild it still rings true thatthat started my passion, even
though it was an unfortunateevent.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
With all these circumstances at play, with all
of these traumas, naturaldisasters, pandemics going on,
all while Katie's getting readyto launch her school counseling
career, I asked her personallyin transitioning from a teaching
role to a school counselingrole, in transitioning from a
teaching role to a schoolcounseling role, what has it
been like and what have herthoughts or takeaways been as
(05:09):
she's worked through all ofthese things?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
The first year was the most intimidating.
You know I always saw educationas a teacher.
I never saw exactly what thecounselors did other than 504
plans or parent meetings andintervention.
We upload our own transcript.
That was a lot of work, a lotof learning curves, so that was
a shocker of how to figure thatout.
Scheduling and schedule changesthat was also like the first two
(05:39):
weeks being a revolving doorand just feeling like exhausted.
But the daily tasks, the littletasks that add up like my task
list for being a teacher wasgrade period h papers and then
now my task list in thecounseling office is like a mile
long and it's all a bunch oflittle tedious things.
(06:01):
But the joy that I feel ofhaving that rapport with the
kids, it's just.
It's what shocked me the mostand it's what's keeping me going
back.
I actually went to a conferenceand one of the sessions was on
boundaries and I came back andthat was the first thing I
implemented.
I was like I need boundaries inthis career because in teaching
(06:23):
we have periods locked offwhere in counseling if you don't
make those locked off times youdon't get it.
That was a shock too to.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Okay, pause for a minute.
I really need you to hear whatKatie said because I think it's
super, super important.
I can remember when I steppedinto a counseling role, I heard
the bells going off in thebuilding, but I knew they
weren't for me and it was such aweird feeling because I had
been conditioned to teach bellto bell as a teacher.
(06:55):
As you listen, you may knowwhat I'm talking about.
It's such a weird feeling tohear people moving around out in
the hallways changing classes,following these schedules, but
knowing that they weren't comingto me or leaving my classroom,
and I thought what am I doingwith myself right now?
(07:16):
It was such a huge mental shift.
I asked Katie if sheexperienced the same thing
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And at first it was like, oh my gosh, I'm free, I'm
free to go party, I'm free to gowalk and check on this kid, I'm
free to move, like I felt kindof released from prison.
It wasn't like a prison cell,but it felt like that.
So yeah, the freedom, but alsolike OK, I don't know what
period we're in, I have to do myschedule and I have to figure
(07:47):
out how to do this.
It's also scary, but fun.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Along the lines of escaping from prison.
If you've moved from aclassroom to school counseling,
you may understand what we'retalking about.
I noted that one of the thingsI noticed was a lack of
immediate oversight.
Not that no one was payingattention to what I was doing in
the counseling office, but as ateacher, moment to moment,
(08:15):
you're super accountable foreverything that's happening in
real time.
You have all these proceduresand expectations to follow,
curriculum points to hit, and onand on and on, Whereas in the
school counselor's office it'sstill high stakes for students,
but in a different way.
I told Katie I rememberthinking no one even knows what
(08:37):
I'm doing right now.
I could be doing literallyanything in my office and no one
has any idea what it is, andthat felt really kind of strange
and kind of ooky.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yes, I can relate to that 100%.
I felt that many times.
If anybody listening to thisconsidering transferring to the
counseling department, that'ssomething that should be
prepared for.
Almost Getting a vision fromthe principal of what she
expects the counseling office todeliver.
That was really what helped me.
The first year I was incomplete shock, just trying to
(09:11):
learn everything, keep my headabove water, but this year I
have her vision in mind and I'mable to like I watched a ton of
YouTube videos on how to useGoogle tasks and like really
block things down and that'ssomething to prepare for if
(09:31):
you're transitioning Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Oh my gosh.
At this point Katie wasspeaking my love language.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
The way she described her task lists almost sounded
like task blocking in a way, soI asked her more about that.
I'm trying that this year,because of the revolving doors
and because of grad school, Ihave to get my schoolwork done
plus plan for that one Spanishclass.
I'm still teaching, teachingplus counsel these kids.
So if I don't do that I'm inover my head and not serving
anybody for making any purposeout of what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
When you walk into a school counseling program and
you're not really sure howthings work, you can feel like
you're drinking from a fire hose.
I noted that it's important totry not to overcompensate by
trying to be all the things forall the people all day long as
we're trying to prove ourselfthrough this process.
(10:25):
I was curious about some of theboundaries that Katie intended
to implement from the conferencethat she mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So the first thing I did was I printed out a close
for lunch sign and I talked tothe secretary and the other
counselor and we all agreed thatwhenever we need time just to
sit and eat, we're going toclose the door for lunch.
Some other things I looked at,like I said, the Google Tasks,
(10:55):
and then also we started aprogram called SCORE.
Have you ever heard of that?
S-c-o-i-r?
It's a college planning systemand it's super helpful.
It's where we send the studentstranscripts to colleges and
they can do research and a bunchof other great tools on there.
But on SCORE, one of the toolsis that it's kind of like
Calendly.
Kids can schedule times byclicking on it through their
(11:17):
account to meet with meone-on-one.
It's definitely nice to haveblocked off time for that as
well.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
One of the things that was very evident in the
conversation I had with Katiewas the thing that she loves
most about school counseling,and that's building rapport with
students.
Katie strives to really buildrelationships and focus on
students as their own people,not just a number on her campus.
(11:48):
I'll bet that might be one ofyour favorite things about
school counseling too, so Iasked her how does she do it,
how does she get to all thosestudents and how does she build
rapport with them all?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I want to talk to everybody.
One-on-one is my goal this year.
I have about 250 students.
I've already done all seniorsknocked them out first because I
wanted to get to know theirplans for after high school, and
then I'd like to just startwith juniors and work my way
down.
So really meeting one-on-one,face-to-face.
I don't know if I'm in over myhead on that one, but it's
(12:26):
working so far and I'm keepingtrack too, and the students see
me keeping track that I'mmeeting with all seniors
one-on-one, and a couple of themwere like oh my gosh, you're
actually making sure that you'rechecking in with all of us.
I'm like absolutely, that's myjob, that's my favorite part of
the job.
Whenever we come back, I havesome juniors and seniors that
want to start a kindness clubwith me.
(12:47):
So we're going to kind ofspread that positivity and
rapport throughout the campus,hopefully.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's inspiring to me, just like it is for Katie's
students, and I think even ifyou're carrying a caseload
larger than hers, if you'reserving more than 250 students,
this can still be done in somecapacity.
Perhaps you can break it downinto student interest groups and
work really diligently onbuilding rapport there.
(13:17):
First, perhaps you can startwith a certain grade level or
alpha, whatever it is.
Get out there and build thoseconnections.
Before we started recording thepodcast, katie told me that she
cared deeply aboutacknowledging who a person is
and what their path after highschool honestly looks like.
(13:40):
I asked her to tell me what shemeant when she mentioned what
students' paths honestly looklike.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So of course we know that there's different routes.
You know, going straight intothe workforce, going to
technical school or four-yearschool, military whatever your
route may be, it's going to belooking different from somebody
else's.
And I think too, being in aprivate school, it's assumed
because everybody in our privateschool is on college prep.
(14:13):
So the idea is that everybodygoes to college.
But I had a senior come in theother day and she was crying and
I was like is everything okay?
And she's like I'm just reallyhappy and scared because I've
decided I'm not going to college, I want to go into real estate
and I don't like school.
And this is a student that'sstruggled a little bit.
But the joy that she felt andthe release that she felt from
(14:37):
knowing that it's okay that herpath is going to look different
from her friends and we talkedabout too, like how she can
still get with her friends andhave some of those experiences,
but she's on a different pathshe was able to recognize that
and that joy and relief, to knowthat you are driven for
something and it doesn't have tobe the same as your friends is
(14:58):
what I'm after for all thosekids, if it brings you joy and
that's what you know you want todo, then that's what you should
do.
I read a book last summer I'dlike to recommend.
It's called Saving Sycamore.
It's written by a schoolcounselor who prevented an
on-campus shooting because ofher rapport with a student, and
(15:19):
it just goes to show thatrelationship is everything.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Oh, my goodness y'all .
When Katie described that book,I felt electricity shoot down
my spine.
I haven't had the privilege ofreading it yet, but I know lots
of school counselors haverecommended the book Saving
Sycamore.
So follow Katie's advice andpick it up.
I know I am, and I think it maybe a contender for our summer
mastermind book study.
(15:45):
So if you're interested indiving into it with us, we'll
have details for you here at theend of the episode.
As we started to wrap up ourconversation, I noted that Katie
has already started to changecampus culture, even though she
really just got started oncampus.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yes, I hope I'm making some changes.
I feel more driven to do thisthan I ever have.
I always think of, like I thinkit was a president or somebody
with the quote about a boat likethe president can steer the
boat, but only turn it slightlyIf it's a big ship, like it's
going to take a while for it toturn all the way around.
That's what I feel like I'mdoing, because they can small
(16:26):
little turns.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Y'all, isn't Katie awesome?
She is wonderful.
We need more folks in schoolcounseling offices who feel that
same sense of purpose and thatdrive in feeling like I'm meant
to be here.
There may be hard days, theremight be days that just totally
suck, but you know what.
(16:49):
I'm meant to be here and I amgoing to be a changemaker.
And that's what she is.
She's a changemaker and I wantto thank Katie for her
inspiration and insight in thisepisode of the podcast.
And I know you're probably achangemaker too.
After all, we are not led intothis profession if we do not
(17:13):
care about changing hearts andminds in schools, about
cultivating great students andamazing citizens.
Right, it's just such anawesome opportunity to change
the world and sometimes we mayfeel it's a small contribution
or we may feel like it'soverwhelming, but y'all, bit by
(17:33):
bit just like turning that shipin the channel, we're making a
difference and we're changingthe trajectory of lives.
It's pretty incredible if youthink about it.
Hey, I hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
It's been so much fun bringingyou interviews from your school
counseling colleagues.
(17:53):
I never fail to learn somethingmyself and to be inspired and
motivated for the week to come.
I mentioned earlier, we do havea summer book study coming up
soon in our School for SchoolCounselors Mastermind, as well
as our monthly masterclasses,monthly data, cohort meetings
(18:14):
and weekly support andconsultation chats Y'all.
There's a lot going on overthere in that world and I would
love for you to come check itout with us.
You can go see all about itSchoolforschoolcounselorscom.
Slash mastermind.
If you have any questions, givemy team a holler at hello at
schoolforschoolcounselorscom.
We would love to answer anyquestions you have about this
(18:36):
amazing community of some of thesmartest school counselors I've
had the privilege of everknowing.
All right, we're going to wrapthis episode up for this time,
but I'll be back soon withanother episode of the School
for School Counselors podcast.
In the meantime, if you feelinspired or motivated yourself,
(18:57):
hop on over to Apple Podcasts,leave us a review or follow us
in your podcast platform ofchoice.
We would be so indebted to youand you're gonna get all the new
episodes as soon as they'rereleased, so it's a win-win
right.
Head over there and hitsubscribe or follow in your
podcast platform of choice and Iwill see you again very, very
(19:18):
soon.
Have the best week, take care.
Hey there, school counselor, welcome back to
another episode of the Schoolfor School Counselors podcast.
I'm Steph Johnson, your host, afull-time school counselor just
like you, and I can't wait tointroduce you to one of my new
school counseling friends, katie.
Katie is a school counselor in aprivate Catholic school and she
(00:20):
is completing her internship atthe same time as she's
beginning building a schoolcounseling program.
She teaches a class on top ofthat, so this lady is busy, but
you're going to fall in lovewith her because you can tell as
she talks that she has so muchheart in her work.
She has such big visions andgoals and dreams for her program
(00:43):
and she has some great insightsabout what it's like to be a
new counselor, what it's like totransition from being a teacher
to a school counselor and whatthe future holds not only for
her campus but for herself as aprofessional.
Katie and I were chatting atthe beginning of this interview
(01:03):
and really didn't realize thatwe had started at all.
We were just having a good timevisiting and we'd entered kind
of an impromptu discussion onfaith and being where you're
supposed to be, and that's whereour conversation here in the
podcast is getting started.
I want you to hear what Katiehas to say about these things,
and listen as she tells you alittle bit about her path toward
(01:27):
becoming a school counselor.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I was going to say, talking about faith, like it
really rung true to me as wellwhen you said God pulls you in
different directions that youdidn't know you needed to go,
like you're doing right now.
That's exactly how I ended upin counseling.
So I had no clue what I wantedto do after college or while I
was in college I actuallystarted doing the nursing route
(01:52):
because that's what all myfriends were doing, and I almost
made it to clinicals and I waslike you know what?
I don't want to do this, and Iwant to make straight A's, so
I'm going to study Spanishinstead.
And so I switched to Spanishmajor and I was like when I
graduated I don't know what I'mgoing to do with this, so I'm
going to teach.
And then, with teaching, I waslike I don't know if I want to
(02:14):
keep doing this.
And then I got pulled into thecounseling office.
So that's where I'm at now.
We're a private high school andit's the only private Catholic
high school in my town.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
So we can imagine that being at a private Catholic
school means it's probably kindof small, and when we work in
private schools just in general,or in small towns, the rule
about everyone pitches in seemsto apply exponentially more than
in other settings.
I asked Katie if she's noticedthat everybody has to do some
(02:52):
things on her campus that theydidn't really anticipate having
to be responsible for when theygot started, just to keep
everything rolling at school.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely.
We don't have a head officehelping with transcripts or
helping with curriculum andlesson planning.
It's all on us and we do it all.
Our situation is unique to theschool that I'm at because in
2020, the same year as COVID wealso had two hurricanes hit our
town and completely destroy ourcampus.
So we're all in temporarybuildings.
(03:24):
So, as you can imagine, we'retrying to raise funds and try to
get FEMA to pay for our newcampus.
So we're tight everywhere.
So everybody's not just me.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Y'all did you catch that Two hurricanes, count them
one.
Two hit her town, completelydestroying the campus.
At the the same time, the wholeentire world was dealing with
COVID.
I cannot even imagine thelevels of trauma that are at
(03:55):
play for not only students buteveryone in the community.
I asked her if it felt likeeveryone around her had been
feeling like things were justcompletely out of control.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Absolutely, and that was when I was in the classroom
full time and I noticed that'swhat I was doing.
I was counseling kids throughtrauma as a teacher and that
really spoke to me and I feltthe rapport build with the
students and, like man, I wouldmuch rather do that than
discipline them for not wearingthe right color shoes.
(04:28):
So even though it was traumaticand it still lingers on like
still a lot of students are intemporary homes or waiting to
rebuild it still rings true thatthat started my passion, even
though it was an unfortunateevent.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
With all these circumstances at play, with all
of these traumas, naturaldisasters, pandemics going on,
all while Katie's getting readyto launch her school counseling
career, I asked her personallyin transitioning from a teaching
role to a school counselingrole, in transitioning from a
teaching role to a schoolcounseling role, what has it
been like and what have herthoughts or takeaways been as
(05:09):
she's worked through all ofthese things?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
The first year was the most intimidating.
You know I always saw educationas a teacher.
I never saw exactly what thecounselors did other than 504
plans or parent meetings andintervention.
We upload our own transcript.
That was a lot of work, a lotof learning curves, so that was
a shocker of how to figure thatout.
Scheduling and schedule changesthat was also like the first two
(05:39):
weeks being a revolving doorand just feeling like exhausted.
But the daily tasks, the littletasks that add up like my task
list for being a teacher wasgrade period h papers and then
now my task list in thecounseling office is like a mile
long and it's all a bunch oflittle tedious things.
(06:01):
But the joy that I feel ofhaving that rapport with the
kids, it's just.
It's what shocked me the mostand it's what's keeping me going
back.
I actually went to a conferenceand one of the sessions was on
boundaries and I came back andthat was the first thing I
implemented.
I was like I need boundaries inthis career because in teaching
(06:23):
we have periods locked offwhere in counseling if you don't
make those locked off times youdon't get it.
That was a shock too to.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Okay, pause for a minute.
I really need you to hear whatKatie said because I think it's
super, super important.
I can remember when I steppedinto a counseling role, I heard
the bells going off in thebuilding, but I knew they
weren't for me and it was such aweird feeling because I had
been conditioned to teach bellto bell as a teacher.
(06:55):
As you listen, you may knowwhat I'm talking about.
It's such a weird feeling tohear people moving around out in
the hallways changing classes,following these schedules, but
knowing that they weren't comingto me or leaving my classroom,
and I thought what am I doingwith myself right now?
(07:16):
It was such a huge mental shift.
I asked Katie if sheexperienced the same thing
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And at first it was like, oh my gosh, I'm free, I'm
free to go party, I'm free to gowalk and check on this kid, I'm
free to move, like I felt kindof released from prison.
It wasn't like a prison cell,but it felt like that.
So yeah, the freedom, but alsolike OK, I don't know what
period we're in, I have to do myschedule and I have to figure
(07:47):
out how to do this.
It's also scary, but fun.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Along the lines of escaping from prison.
If you've moved from aclassroom to school counseling,
you may understand what we'retalking about.
I noted that one of the thingsI noticed was a lack of
immediate oversight.
Not that no one was payingattention to what I was doing in
the counseling office, but as ateacher, moment to moment,
(08:15):
you're super accountable foreverything that's happening in
real time.
You have all these proceduresand expectations to follow,
curriculum points to hit, and onand on and on, Whereas in the
school counselor's office it'sstill high stakes for students,
but in a different way.
I told Katie I rememberthinking no one even knows what
(08:37):
I'm doing right now.
I could be doing literallyanything in my office and no one
has any idea what it is, andthat felt really kind of strange
and kind of ooky.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yes, I can relate to that 100%.
I felt that many times.
If anybody listening to thisconsidering transferring to the
counseling department, that'ssomething that should be
prepared for.
Almost Getting a vision fromthe principal of what she
expects the counseling office todeliver.
That was really what helped me.
The first year I was incomplete shock, just trying to
(09:11):
learn everything, keep my headabove water, but this year I
have her vision in mind and I'mable to like I watched a ton of
YouTube videos on how to useGoogle tasks and like really
block things down and that'ssomething to prepare for if
(09:31):
you're transitioning Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Oh my gosh.
At this point Katie wasspeaking my love language.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
The way she described her task lists almost sounded
like task blocking in a way, soI asked her more about that.
I'm trying that this year,because of the revolving doors
and because of grad school, Ihave to get my schoolwork done
plus plan for that one Spanishclass.
I'm still teaching, teachingplus counsel these kids.
So if I don't do that I'm inover my head and not serving
anybody for making any purposeout of what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
When you walk into a school counseling program and
you're not really sure howthings work, you can feel like
you're drinking from a fire hose.
I noted that it's important totry not to overcompensate by
trying to be all the things forall the people all day long as
we're trying to prove ourselfthrough this process.
(10:25):
I was curious about some of theboundaries that Katie intended
to implement from the conferencethat she mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So the first thing I did was I printed out a close
for lunch sign and I talked tothe secretary and the other
counselor and we all agreed thatwhenever we need time just to
sit and eat, we're going toclose the door for lunch.
Some other things I looked at,like I said, the Google Tasks,
(10:55):
and then also we started aprogram called SCORE.
Have you ever heard of that?
S-c-o-i-r?
It's a college planning systemand it's super helpful.
It's where we send the studentstranscripts to colleges and
they can do research and a bunchof other great tools on there.
But on SCORE, one of the toolsis that it's kind of like
Calendly.
Kids can schedule times byclicking on it through their
(11:17):
account to meet with meone-on-one.
It's definitely nice to haveblocked off time for that as
well.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
One of the things that was very evident in the
conversation I had with Katiewas the thing that she loves
most about school counseling,and that's building rapport with
students.
Katie strives to really buildrelationships and focus on
students as their own people,not just a number on her campus.
(11:48):
I'll bet that might be one ofyour favorite things about
school counseling too, so Iasked her how does she do it,
how does she get to all thosestudents and how does she build
rapport with them all?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I want to talk to everybody.
One-on-one is my goal this year.
I have about 250 students.
I've already done all seniorsknocked them out first because I
wanted to get to know theirplans for after high school, and
then I'd like to just startwith juniors and work my way
down.
So really meeting one-on-one,face-to-face.
I don't know if I'm in over myhead on that one, but it's
(12:26):
working so far and I'm keepingtrack too, and the students see
me keeping track that I'mmeeting with all seniors
one-on-one, and a couple of themwere like oh my gosh, you're
actually making sure that you'rechecking in with all of us.
I'm like absolutely, that's myjob, that's my favorite part of
the job.
Whenever we come back, I havesome juniors and seniors that
want to start a kindness clubwith me.
(12:47):
So we're going to kind ofspread that positivity and
rapport throughout the campus,hopefully.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
That's inspiring to me, just like it is for Katie's
students, and I think even ifyou're carrying a caseload
larger than hers, if you'reserving more than 250 students,
this can still be done in somecapacity.
Perhaps you can break it downinto student interest groups and
work really diligently onbuilding rapport there.
(13:17):
First, perhaps you can startwith a certain grade level or
alpha, whatever it is.
Get out there and build thoseconnections.
Before we started recording thepodcast, katie told me that she
cared deeply aboutacknowledging who a person is
and what their path after highschool honestly looks like.
(13:40):
I asked her to tell me what shemeant when she mentioned what
students' paths honestly looklike.
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
So of course we know that there's different routes.
You know, going straight intothe workforce, going to
technical school or four-yearschool, military whatever your
route may be, it's going to belooking different from somebody
else's.
And I think too, being in aprivate school, it's assumed
because everybody in our privateschool is on college prep.
(14:13):
So the idea is that everybodygoes to college.
But I had a senior come in theother day and she was crying and
I was like is everything okay?
And she's like I'm just reallyhappy and scared because I've
decided I'm not going to college, I want to go into real estate
and I don't like school.
And this is a student that'sstruggled a little bit.
But the joy that she felt andthe release that she felt from
(14:37):
knowing that it's okay that herpath is going to look different
from her friends and we talkedabout too, like how she can
still get with her friends andhave some of those experiences,
but she's on a different pathshe was able to recognize that
and that joy and relief, to knowthat you are driven for
something and it doesn't have tobe the same as your friends is
(14:58):
what I'm after for all thosekids, if it brings you joy and
that's what you know you want todo, then that's what you should
do.
I read a book last summer I'dlike to recommend.
It's called Saving Sycamore.
It's written by a schoolcounselor who prevented an
on-campus shooting because ofher rapport with a student, and
(15:19):
it just goes to show thatrelationship is everything.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Oh, my goodness y'all .
When Katie described that book,I felt electricity shoot down
my spine.
I haven't had the privilege ofreading it yet, but I know lots
of school counselors haverecommended the book Saving
Sycamore.
So follow Katie's advice andpick it up.
I know I am, and I think it maybe a contender for our summer
mastermind book study.
(15:45):
So if you're interested indiving into it with us, we'll
have details for you here at theend of the episode.
As we started to wrap up ourconversation, I noted that Katie
has already started to changecampus culture, even though she
really just got started oncampus.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yes, I hope I'm making some changes.
I feel more driven to do thisthan I ever have.
I always think of, like I thinkit was a president or somebody
with the quote about a boat likethe president can steer the
boat, but only turn it slightlyIf it's a big ship, like it's
going to take a while for it toturn all the way around.
That's what I feel like I'mdoing, because they can small
(16:26):
little turns.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Y'all, isn't Katie awesome?
She is wonderful.
We need more folks in schoolcounseling offices who feel that
same sense of purpose and thatdrive in feeling like I'm meant
to be here.
There may be hard days, theremight be days that just totally
suck, but you know what.
(16:49):
I'm meant to be here and I amgoing to be a changemaker.
And that's what she is.
She's a changemaker and I wantto thank Katie for her
inspiration and insight in thisepisode of the podcast.
And I know you're probably achangemaker too.
After all, we are not led intothis profession if we do not
(17:13):
care about changing hearts andminds in schools, about
cultivating great students andamazing citizens.
Right, it's just such anawesome opportunity to change
the world and sometimes we mayfeel it's a small contribution
or we may feel like it'soverwhelming, but y'all, bit by
(17:33):
bit just like turning that shipin the channel, we're making a
difference and we're changingthe trajectory of lives.
It's pretty incredible if youthink about it.
Hey, I hope you enjoyed thisepisode.
It's been so much fun bringingyou interviews from your school
counseling colleagues.
(17:53):
I never fail to learn somethingmyself and to be inspired and
motivated for the week to come.
I mentioned earlier, we do havea summer book study coming up
soon in our School for SchoolCounselors Mastermind, as well
as our monthly masterclasses,monthly data, cohort meetings
(18:14):
and weekly support andconsultation chats Y'all.
There's a lot going on overthere in that world and I would
love for you to come check itout with us.
You can go see all about itSchoolforschoolcounselorscom.
Slash mastermind.
If you have any questions, givemy team a holler at hello at
schoolforschoolcounselorscom.
We would love to answer anyquestions you have about this
(18:36):
amazing community of some of thesmartest school counselors I've
had the privilege of everknowing.
All right, we're going to wrapthis episode up for this time,
but I'll be back soon withanother episode of the School
for School Counselors podcast.
In the meantime, if you feelinspired or motivated yourself,
(18:57):
hop on over to Apple Podcasts,leave us a review or follow us
in your podcast platform ofchoice.
We would be so indebted to youand you're gonna get all the new
episodes as soon as they'rereleased, so it's a win-win
right.
Head over there and hitsubscribe or follow in your
podcast platform of choice and Iwill see you again very, very
(19:18):
soon.
Have the best week, take care.
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