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. Strengths and weaknesses are important to consider as a helper. A strength of mine is that I feel that I am a good listener. I take in and fully invest myself into what another individual is saying during conversations. I can empathize with others by understanding their feelings, whether or not I myself have ever been in
As a school counselor in practice, my philosophy of the role of the school counselor is that school counselors play a tremendous role in the life of their student and is very important for us, school counselors to be aware of our role in the students’ life. We play a big role in their development of different areas such as personal development, career/academic development, and social development. Therefore, what guide me to this career is that I want to be able to advocate for my students, and to help student succeed not only academically but also mentally, socially and to provide them with the tools that they need to be successful in life.
As a counselor, being aware of the theoretical approaches and which ones best suit your perspective on human nature, complications, and change for an individual is vital. Not only is understanding the approaches important, but the counselor’s own values and personal philosophy are equally fundamental for the counselor to do their job efficiently.
My name is Courtney Torok and I am currently a senior here at Kennesaw State University. I am graduating this December with a degree in psychology. I am originally from Michigan and moved down here to Georgia with my family just before starting at Kennesaw State University. I started off majoring in chemistry with the intent of applying to some kind of medical program, but eventually found that my passion was psychology. I have always wanted to work in the “helping” field. After graduating, I plan on applying to graduate school for school psychology programs where I will earn both my Master of Science in School Psychology and Specialist in School Psychology degrees. Ideally, I would love to be accepted into a graduate school in Florida, as
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.
What motivated me the most to enter a helping profession was high school. All through high school I saw children being bullied, stressed out trying to be someone they were not, and pushed down for being slightly different. Counseling is a profession that allows people to listen
Working in the education system as a school counselor is my preference. I am passionate about social awareness and helping students. I’ve always been sure that I would be a counselor. When I made my mind up to go back for an advanced degree, I decided to get it in the field of education. After speaking to a professor in the counselor education program at college and discussed my interests with them. I knew that day I wanted to change my major to school counseling. I like the ideal of being a school counselor because I believe I can be a vital member of the education team.
I desire to pursue school counseling as my career to become an effective and successful leader in this profession. Why? I have always held a passion for touching the lives of the youth in a great and positive manner. A licensed school counselor entails helping students with academic achievement, personal/social growth and career development, ensuring students become the industrious, well-balanced adults of tomorrow. while, operating as a professional school counselor involves me obtaining the appropriate knowledge and skills that will support me with providing exceptional service for clients. I believe that I can obtain this intelligence here at Capella University. I comprehend that as a professional school counselor I would be expected
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 experience I had in my internship solidified my interest in pursuing a career in counseling. This internship provided me with very practical insight and experiences into the work life of a counselor with these kinds of populations. I have a much clearer idea of what kind of demands would be upon me professionally and personally. My internship experience ultimately put me in a better position from which to decide in which direction my career path will go.
In addition to my personal challenges my personal strengths interfer. A personal strength I have is talking , I love sharing my opinion. Another personal strength I have is giving good advice because I love helping people solve their problem or help make their lives easier. Lastly another personal strength I have is just listening because I am a good person to vent to because I don’t judge. Therefore I always spread positivity and lean a hand.
The role of a counselor takes on many different forms, and it is a very important career, because it helps people make better life choices. The personal values we have, and also how we view the world, can help shape the type of counselor we will be. I will take a self-reflective view of what I hold dear, and also explain how my personal experiences have led me to chose a career in this particular helping profession. I will also describe the differences between the professional counseling, and other helping professions, such as social work for an example. I also will look at how accreditation, licensure, and certification, are important in defining what a counselor is, and does.
Why do I really want to be a counselor? Growing up, I had a strong and supportive village to help me get through my emotional and psychological challenges of my own. There is an old familiar proverb that says “it takes a village to raise a child.” My village was, to my advantage, quite overpopulated. Filled to the brim with my parents, family, teachers, friends, guidance counselors, professors, various bosses, and supervisors, this overwhelming community ensured that my formative years were spent growing and learning about myself with the counsel of others at every step. I want to be apart of many people village and help assist them throughout their emotional and psychological challenges they may encounter.
With basketball completely out of the equation, my quintessential career path would be to become some sort of counselor. Before jumping to conclusions assuming a counselor is someone who just sits back with a pen and notepad all day giving the occasional “how does that make you feel”, a lot of things need to be taken into consideration about how much time, and effort and strenuous work is required to pursue this career path. A counselor (depending on what field) is typically someone who uses therapeutic techniques to help patients strengthen existing qualities and skills used in everyday life. Ideally I would like to become a school counselor to begin coping with the minds of the youth, then hopefully move on from there. In order to do so
This is a profession that I find to be very rewarding, but challenging as well. Through my education at Clemson, I feel that I will be ready to take on the responsibilities of being a school counselor and change students’ lives one step at a