Blog 2 - Nakia Eckert

The passage from Chapter 2 that struck me the most during my reading was the idea that “With multiple professionals watching out for students, and counselors leading and advocating for equity, the achievement gap will narrow. Without this leadership of systemic interventions for students, the achievement gap widens and students who may have limited access to resources fall further behind” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012, p. 27). In a recent interview with a School Counselor, she mentioned that if you are organized and calculated in how you go about your day to day tasks, you can really turn your job into anything you want. If you want to be the kind of School Counselor that does not leave their office, you can do that. Or, you can be the kind of School Counselor that is out and about and maximized their face time with the students, gaining their trust and respect and thus making your interactions with all the other players in their lives much simpler. The above quote from the text says to me that School Counselors have the ability to become leaders within their schools, and by honing in on their leadership responsibilities and collaborating with the other student service professionals in the building, they can truly effect change, especially for those students who do not have as much access to resources. I truly believe that the most successful students, both in and out of the school atmosphere, are the ones that have support of adults in their lives as well as the feeling of empowerment to learn how to use these resources.

The case study from the beginning of the chapter also struck a chord in me. I can only imagine how difficult it is to speak with students that are dealing with issues of bullying and self-injury, and sadly I feel as though these are scenarios that are all too common in today’s schools. The principal’s reaction was probably one that occurs is real life on a pretty regular basis. On the one hand, if the student has become a discipline issue because of personal issues, the administration might not be able to see beyond the disciplinary problems to the root of the issue. This is where courage becomes a huge issue in our future jobs as School Counselors to be able to advocate for our students while still being respectful of the administration and abiding by school policies.

Lastly, I found our class discussions last week very interesting. We are all coming from such diverse backgrounds and ranges of experiences and it is nice to hear different points of view from everyone as well as commonalities that we all have, especially when it comes to finding jobs and learning how to do those new jobs to the best of our abilities. I hope we can continue to empower each other this semester and build a strong community network that we can take with us into the future of our academic and professional careers. I truly believe it is who you know, not what you know that will get you where you want to go.

Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.). New York:   Pearson, Inc.