High School Students : A Interview At Alain Leroy Locke

My pursuit of becoming a School Counselor led me to apply to the School Counseling Master’s Program at University of Maryland, College Park. I am a former student at University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. After graduating and teaching for two years in Prince George’s County Public Schools, I discovered my true passion lies not only in the classroom and students’ academics, but playing a pivotal role in the growth of their career, social, and personal development. Although I am no longer teaching full-time at the moment, my interaction with students from diverse backgrounds left an indelible responsibility to continue making a difference in our students. The objectives and mission of the School Counseling Master’s Program at University of Maryland can best help my goal of becoming an effective counselor and leader who is an agent of change to students and service the mental and emotional well-being of the younger generation.

The experiences that I shared with those students presented me with great satisfaction. This influenced my decision to apply for a graduate degree in school counseling. Although, at this point in time I do not hold any experiences in school counseling I have researched ways to gain that experience. Volunteering at both public schools to shadow licensed school counselors and independent counseling centers will provide me the necessary experiences to gain hands on knowledge for the field. The ability to relate interpersonally to individuals from different cultural backgrounds is extremely important for a counselor. Being knowledgeable of a client’s culture, identity, ethnicity, race and gender play a major part in the counseling process. Possessing cultural competent is key to engaging a diverse clientele. Culture norms and rules change the way an individual interact. I understand the importance of identifying the barriers and bias in interacting with individual from different cultures. Through my previous years of education and current work experiences I obtained valuable interpersonal skills. These skills assist with communicating effectively with a diverse group of individuals. Those skills involved effective listening, problem-solving, decision-making, assertiveness, and verbal and non-verbal communication. In detail, while working as teacher, I was afforded the opportunity of advising interns on making practical

My passion towards working with students every day has led me to the decision of pursuing a doctoral degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Miami University. I have chosen this program to prepare myself for a future role as a professor or a senior level college administrator. This program will allow me to become more proficient within the students’ educational experience and therefore better engage students in active learning.

At Hazelwood High School, they do things differently than at my school. At Hazelwood, most of the people worry about themselves and nobody else. Most of the school doesn’t get good grades and the school does not do anything about it. One day in English class Andy walked out when they were reading Macbeth because it was too emotional for Andy to handle. His friends were concerned and told the school counselor. They said, “But… but… it seems like… like… he needs help or somethin’.” Then the counselor said, “Well, I probably shouldn’t tell you boys this, but he is getting some outside counseling… So you boys can relax and be assured that he is getting whatever help he needs”(100). At Harrisburg High School, if someone had an issue like that, the counselors and teachers would be concerned, even if the person was getting outside help. Another thing about education that is different than mine is the school. In Ronda’s English homework, she wrote, “Our school building must have been built about a million years ago, because it was brown and tall and raggedy-looking, but it fit right in with the rest of the day”(16). At my high school, we are very fortunate to have a very new building to learn inside of. At Hazelwood High, they were not fortunate enough to have a new high school be built. Culture and education are very important pieces of people’s

School counselors should be able to distinguish the differences between individual and group dissimilarities and strive to value all students and groups equally. They should advocate for the equitable treatment of all students in their school and in their community. If a school counselor wants to be successful in ensuring an equity-based program, they should consider the role of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and other factors (Curry & Milson, 2013). Any student regardless of background can face developmental and emotional issues that can be detrimental to their success. Some students slip through the cracks because they feel that there are no adults available whom they can trust. They

As a current Retention Specialist, for the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), I have mastered group counseling. For instance, I have conducted over 100 academic advisement workshops. Aside from holding group counseling, I have prevented ECS Hispanic and Black American students from dropping out of California State University, Fullerton. Nonetheless, I am the face of a first-generation scholar who can relate to some challenges first-generation college students’ experience. These challenges may entail, working while pursuing an advanced degree, culture shock with the university environment, and overcoming learning disabilities. Remarkably, I have surmounted obstacles such as having a slight Reading Disability and successfully completing remediation courses during my freshman year in college.

To efficiently address the needs of nontraditional African American female students ages 25 to 50 it is important for colleges to understand and know this subgroup population (Strayhorn & Johnson, 2014; Walpole, et al., 2014). The research questions for this study are designed to gain an understanding of the perceptions and experiences of African American female students age 25 to 50 enrolled in developmental courses.

What could schools do to support the college access of Latino immigrant students? To understand how public high schools serving low-income, immigrant students (majority of whom were of Hispanic descent) achieved high rates of college acceptances, Jaffe-Walters and Lee (2008) conducted an ethnographic study to explore how schools provide students with the academic skills and social capital to support college-going. Among other factors, the researchers found that staff resisted “deficit thinking by focusing on the structural and material conditions that limit families” (p. 285). That is, instead of blaming students’ circumstances for struggles to achieve in school, educators at these schools sought ways to overcome structural barriers and provide students with the resources and capital necessary to graduate and attend college. One way of preparing all ELLs attending the schools was grouping students heterogeneously in academically challenging courses, with an “assumption that all

I participate in a tutoring program for elementary students in Dorchester, an underserved community in Boston. Working with the children has helped me eliminate preconceived ideas that led me to believe schools were bad because the parents did not pay enough attention to their children's educations. I now realize that the problems in education have more to do with the amount of funding that goes into certain schools. Ignorance and distance from reality caused me to believe that struggling neighborhoods inherently produce bad students. I now understand that the problems within the school do not reflect the students’ abilities.

Following this mission and vision, Heritage High School as an agency, works to prepare students for post high school life by providing individual counseling services, group counseling services, mediation services, and crisis intervention services for all students in need. Moreover, this agency works to fight the social injustice of unequal educational opportunities, due to disabilities, race, gender, and socioeconomic background, by providing critical support services to disadvantaged individuals. Not only does this agency provide services mandated by students’ individual education plans, but it also offers services and resources to any students that require additional assistance to meet their educational goals and ultimately reach graduation

He relayed to me another negative side to the field of school counseling is the fact that you are the middle man between the student, teacher, and parents. It is important that as a counselor we advocate for the students, but we also work with the teachers, therefore trying to maintain peace with the teachers and help the students succeed can be hard at times. Finally having no parental support is a huge negative aspect to this career, as a counselor we can only do so much and when there isn’t that parental support at home, the help and support we can provide can only go so

Let’s imagine a school with small group classroom sizes, preparing students for college and careers after high school. Also with diverse AP and honor classes by creating a program to help aid students to learn about these classes and the benefits. Since they haven’t created a program to prevent students falling into the government system. In my eyes this is an ideal school that can help and benefit students and the future way of learning. Although Denver South High School is doing well in the areas of diversity and culture, south could improve on preparing students for future careers, enlightening students on the benefits of AP and honor courses provided at the school and also creating

As a recent graduate of Iowa State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art and Design focusing on art history and education, the position as Education Coordinator and Advisor at Buena Vista University captured my attention as an opportunity to work with students through educational programming. As a recent college student, I provide a valuable perspective on academic advising through my own personal experiences. I have learned many advisors lack in truly connecting and catering to each student’s individual situation and needs. Buena Vista University, a relatively small area college, provides an opportunity to fully connect and provide personal one-on-one experience all students deserve. Subsequently, students gain the absolute most out of their college education. A large part of my career goals entail helping students of all ages engage, thrive and connect in their own individualized way.

Both faculty and student affairs staff should be able to articulate their educational purposes and to offer a rationale for the strategies They design to accomplish these ends. (King, 2003) Many student affairs practitioners find themselves in the role of educator, fostering both the intellectual and personal growth of the student (Brown, 1991; Hunter & Murray, 2007). This is a natural shift for practitioners who have been trained in counseling. In fostering student growth, the practitioner, as educator, may advise, mentor build curriculum, instruct, evaluate-assess, and be a scholar-researcher.

Kaylen Clifford graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Educational Studies. She is currently completing her Master of Education in Educational Counseling degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and will graduate in 2017. Her interests are in helping students who are underprivileged obtain the resources necessary to go to college and thrive once there. Currently, Kaylen works with students as a Student Program Advisor for the USC TRiO Educational Talent Search program, as well as an Instructor for the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education’s SummerTIME program.