School Counseling & Pass/ Fail Changes

I love my job!  Of course, like with every other adult you have ever met, there are parts of my job and random days that are not as ideal as others, but as a whole… I am SO LUCKY!  I truly love what I get to do every day.  To walk into WKHS and to work with my students is the best job anyone could ever hope to have in their life.  Last week was National School Counselor Week.  It is actually a week when school counselors are supposed to be advocating for our profession and helping tell people what it is we really do because most people cannot even imagine what the job involves.  But with registration craziness and the non-stop meetings with my students, even having a moment to pause to share what the profession means to me just didn’t seem realistic.  But instead, the administrators, teachers and students decided to surprise all of the Kilbourne counselors with wonderful words of affirmation and appreciation.  Our halls are currently lined with the most generous and meaningful notes from students who have shared their thoughts on how their school counselor has helped them.  I don’t know if any of them were specifically for me (although I did spot at least 1 note that highlighted Lexi which made me smile), but what I can tell you is that I hope you know how much I appreciate the kind words.  They made me smile and touched my heart and yet I don’t do this job for the pay or even those incredibly meaningful notes – I do this job with the hope that in the smallest of ways I can try to be a positive presence and to try to help make your life even a little easier.  So it doesn’t matter to me if we are focused on your academic success, your college and career plans, or the issues connected to your personal/ social emotional development, all of it is a joy for me to be able to work with you!  YOU are the reason I love coming to work every day!  To get to know you, to walk alongside you in your journey throughout high school, to hope that you will know that you are cared about and believed in is so important to me.  And so I want you to know that every day, each time you drop by to say hi, to share a part of your life with me – that is the greatest gift and helps give me the focus to always try to bring my best effort to the day.  I know that I am far from perfect and there are always times and people who wish I could be in more places or do more things, but I promise you that I will always try to help you in whatever way I can.   Thank you for giving so much back to me – through your actions of allowing me to be a part of your life and also with the sweet messages for National School Counselor Week.

Switching gears – I also wanted to make sure that all of you are aware that tomorrow is the last day to drop a class without it appearing on your transcript!  Tomorrow is also the deadline for students to be able to switch their schedules from traditional grading to pass/ fail grading.  So, if this was something you were considering, please be sure to download the forms from the Counselor website and submit them by the end of the day tomorrow!