Personal Statement: A Career As A School Counselor

It is essential for school counselors to become culturally sensitive and to take the time to understand the diverse population at their schools by reflecting on their own cultural awareness. I believe that all students are entitle to a proper education. In my class Social and Cultural Concerns in School Counseling, I gained knowledge on how important it is to be aware of our own bias and prejudices within all the different cultural background from our students. I find it important to continue to learn more about each culture to get a better idea of why and how students think a certain way, as different cultures value education differently. For example, in the Native American culture, it is valuable to incorporate the student’s family (whomever the student identifies as their family) when dealing with hard situations in order to have a better outcome. Therefore, it is also important to be mindful of culture sensitivity and maintain that level of comfort in a professional manner to better serve our students.

The choices we make early in life have an enormous impact on our future. I have always known that I wanted to directly impact people’s lives and my personal experiences have set me on the school-counseling path. In the future, I would love to influence another generation of students to soar for their dreams.

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

It was during my senior year of college that I decided I wanted to become a school counselor. Up until my senior year in college at Penn State I did not know where I wanted to take my career but I knew I wanted to work in a school setting and I knew that I wanted to work with kids. When it came time to choose an internship site for my last semester, I chose an alternative school called Buxmont Academy in Bethlehem where I would be shadowing two of their school counselors as well as engaging with the students themselves. I got to work with these children on a more personal level, gaining an understanding of their emotions, experiences, and difficulties, as most of these children came from broken homes, and drug and alcohol related settings. I am interested in becoming a school counselor because I want to help. When I become a counselor I want to make a difference in a child’s life whether that be by simply giving them support that they might not have in their lives or helping them make changes to better themselves and their futures. A counselor has such an important role in helping to shape young children and that is something that I want to be a part of.

From this twenty year counseling veteran I learned about a functioning guidance program, the role of the counselor, the amount of time she spends in various components of the program, how to foster a positive relationship with the teachers and faculty, ways to continue to develop professionally, and insight for a future career in school counseling. As I drove away from the school, I felt a mix of emotions such as, intimidation, excitement, and hopefulness to name a few. When I began to try to take in just how much is required and how many people rely on a school counselor it was intimidating. In my mind I began to wonder if it is possible for one person to be that much to that many people and still keep some kind of balance. As soon as the thought passed through my mind, I immediately heard the words of wisdom that had been shared with me, "don 't beat yourself up for not being able to be everything to everybody." I also reflected on how upbeat the counselor sounded when she talked about her role in helping students become "the best people

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

For this paper, I decided to focus my attention on one population that I am potentially interested in working with, which are high school students. The first person I interviewed was a ninth-grade counselor at Alain Leroy Locke College Prepartory Academy. The second person I interviewed was a College Adviser, placed through USC, at Diego Rivera Learning Complex. While the first interview was conducted on site at Locke, the second interview was conducted on campus at USC. For both interviews, I came equipped with my questions already printed out and ready for me to write my interviewees responses down. In discussing the challenges that both the counselor and adviser experience in terms of learning, it is important to first understand the population of students that both professionals work with. While both schools are in South Los Angeles, Diego Rivera Learning Complex is a part of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), while Alain Leroy Locke is run by Green Dot Public Schools—even though it is still within LAUSD boundaries. Both schools have a primarily minority and low-income population.

In order to pursue my dream career in being an addictions counselor, I require a higher level of schooling to ensure that I will be doing a good job and be the perfect fit for my clients. There is a lot of courses that one can take in order to be an addictions counselor, but for me I got my eye on three. Firstly, I will need to have more studies in maths, this can be about any high level math class like algebra or business mathematics. For example, Indeed shares that you need to use math to understand how to build successful statistics (Ring). Thus, as an addictions counselor, I must be able to calculate factors like a drugs dosage and what it means to my client quickly in my head. Secondly, I will need to know about alcohol and drug abuse to be an effective counselor, this class is essential to be an addictions counselor.

The United States of America is known for being a country filled with people of many different ethnic backgrounds. Likewise, the student population in schools is just as diverse as it continues to grow. Lynch (2015) notes that schools are expected to teach their students “how to synthesize cultural differences into their knowledge base” as this will help “facilitate students’ personal and professional success in a diverse world” (para. 8). Educators must be able to provide for the diverse needs of students and are expected to equip students with skills that can lead to healthy development as it can affect higher levels of student achievement and students have more opportunities of success in their future. Providing students with tools and skills requires an awareness and acceptance of their ethnic identity. Once students have developed self-acceptance about their ethnic identity, they can begin to feel empowered and motivated to do well. Through cultural empowerment, students of color can develop intrinsic motivation and achieve academic success.

School counselors have a key role in advocating for academic success for each student in the school. The advocacy makes the counselors have a leadership role in encouraging and promoting school reforms. The advocacy efforts of school counselors aim to eliminate obstacles preventing the development of students and to create chances for all students to learn. It also aims to ensure students have access to the school curriculum that fits their needs. School counselors collaborate with other people within and outside the school to assist students meet their learning needs. In addition, advocacy promotes positive and systematic change in schools (Trusty & Brown, 2005).

The first time I went to counseling was in 2003, I was nine years old. My counselor 's name was Julie, and we played together. She had a room filled with toys that became my safe haven after my parents ' divorce. She would sit with me while I played and ask me questions about whatever activity I had chosen that day. I didn 't know it at the time, but the impact that Julie had on my life was tremendous. She gave nine-year-old Ashley a place to focus her emotions and make sense out of words like “divorce”. She helped me make a smooth transition into life in two homes and later helped me through the death of my father.

Diversity in the school community is an asset to the school and student population. Through positively recognizing diversity, staff, students, and the community can showcase a broader range of talents and achievements. This past year, AAHS had several huge behavior incidents where students lacked understanding and respect for others of different backgrounds, needs, or skills. The majority of the discrimination was focused around race or religious affiliation. To create an inclusive and positive school culture, administration had to address the issues with the entire school population. I brainstormed with other leaders in the building and created a video presentation for our Konnections class that encouraged Konnections teachers to talk with their students about racism and an appreciation to diversity in the school community. During the turmoil, we also had to teach teacher how to openly talk about race and the issues that revolve around it. Race and religion are two examples of diversity in the school population; however, there are many different facets of diversity that principals should both acknowledge and appreciate.

The focus of my career interest is on the higher education, support students with my professional skills, and mature and guide them in favor of the individual development. Graduated from the University of Macau, the first job started in UIC, as a student counselor. In order to help those students who achieved low GPA, one of the main tasks of my job refers to evaluate their problems in academic. Nevertheless, all eight academic counselors, including me, should have clear understanding about college regulations, such as degree requirement and curriculum structure. Different departments and units may provide different information to students, but our close connection with Academic Registration staff makes students clarify the regulations.

Gone are the days of school counselors sitting in their office simply handing out college applications, making schedule changes for students who want to drop a class or meeting with the troublemakers in the school. Today's school counselors are vital members of the education team. They help all students in the areas of academic achievement; personal/social development and career development, ensuring today's students become the productive, well-adjusted adults of tomorrow. I am grateful the time my counselors have taken to invest in me through this educational