Why I Am A High School Guidance Counselor

We make decisions early in our lives that have a massive impact on our future. It has always been a passion of mine to touch the lives of the youth in a great and positive manner. What better way to live out this passion than being an advocate for the generation to come. It is my goal, to inspire and aide a generation of students in achieving their goals. I believe that School Counseling will give me the opportunity to do so. My personal and work experiences influenced my motivation to become a School Counselor. Through my years of experience I have overcame many challenging obstacles but they all worked together in the end for the better. In example, the first university that I attended after high school was Valdosta State University. When I attended VSU, my approach of learning was extremely nonchalant. After some life struggles I decided to relocate to Atlanta. Upon moving, I made a promise to myself that I had to finish what I stated back in Valdosta. My outlook on learning had become more meaningful. I enrolled in Atlanta Technical College and this is where my hungry for an over average GPA began. Once I began this journey, deciding to focus in Early Childhood and Education, like any other college student, I faced difficulties adjusting myself to university’s requirements. Eventually I became more confident and showed much more interest in the change. I worked harder, and received high grades, which boosted my ambition to perform better. In my last quarter at Atlanta

At 17 years old, I had the grueling task of deciding how I wanted to spend 40 plus years of my life. I always aspired to land a career in the medical field, so I majored in biology like most pre-med hopefuls, but during my junior year, I no longer desired to become a physician. The medical field was calling out to me, but the specialty of focus was incorrect. After graduation, I went back to the basics and put my nursing assistant certification to use.

During my undergraduate years in college I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to become when I “grew up”. I would study various professions and never felt like anything fit for me. One evening I sat down with my aunt, a nurse, and I was talking to her about how I couldn’t decide on a major and how frustrating it was to be in college feeling as if I did not have any direction. She looked at me with complete surprise on her face and said, “You aren’t applying for nursing school?” I stared at her for a moment because I was confused as to why she would ask me that. She chuckled and proceeded to tell me that she had always assumed that I would be a nurse because I spent several years of my life taking care of my 3 year old cousin who had cancer.

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.

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

As a college student you are told to pick a major that you have interest in. As a little girl, I have always wanted to have a meaningful career. Don’t get me wrong; there are so many careers that have done incredible things for people and the world, but I wanted to find something I am passionate about. After earning my Certified Nursing Assistant, I am going to be a nursing

Growing up I knew I wanted a career where I can help people. I was undecided whether that would be in the form of caring for people or helping teach key stage 1. I thought I would enjoy becoming a nurse so started an access to higher education course in health care. Once attending university open days and finding out the unsociable hours and weeks away, I knew this is not the career path that I want to go for. As a mother, I want to be around and involved with my children.

When I first attended Lindenwood University and I had no idea on where I wanted to go with my life. All I knew is that I would not be stuck behind a desk for eight hours a day and that I wanted to work with people. For a while I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be an influencing part in someone’s life, but it didn’t take me long to realize that teaching was not what I was being called to do. I had a very strong passion to help people, so I started working towards a degree in Exercise Science with the idea that I could do something with the rising obesity issues, but it still didn’t feel right. I started meeting with my advisor, Heather Pennington, who helped me start looking around for different options. She strongly encouraged me to try out different facilities, including several Occupational Therapy environments. I didn’t have a particular “aha” moment where I decided that Occupational Therapy was right for me, but the various experiences showed me what my potential future career path could be.

Even though we struggle here and there, we never gave up in school. I had a really hard time figuring out what I wanted to do when I was attending University at Buffalo. I tried couple different programs and end up not finishing because I was not interested in them. By senior year in college, I start realizing how much time I was wasting switching from major to major, so I went and spoke with an advisor. I knew my grades were not in good standing, however, I told my advisor that I was willing to retake classes in order to get into nursing school even if it was to put me back a couple years. Instead of encouraging me, she advised me to not waste my time in the health field since my grades were not good and to switch to a different major. I was so discouraged by her comments, I felt loss and useless for quite a while. I stop going to school for about a year to figure out what I should do. After working at different nail salons, I realize that I really like to take care of people and I enjoy doing so even if it was hard work. I took care of many older ladies and gentlemen have disabilities and I was very happy to help them.

I am Brania Shant’A Kimbrough. I am 17 years old currently a student at Euclid High School. I plan on becoming a nurse Midwife. When I was younger all I loved was taking care of babies and I think the birthing process is a miracle. One of my big focuses is helping out with others when I can. I plan on starting college in the fall of 2017. During high school my main focus was to make good grades and stay on the right track. I made honor role throughout most of my high school years. I struggled with a couple courses but tried my hardest to not fail myself or the courses. When I became a junior I started to think about college and where I would fit in at. I couldn’t decide between going for nursing or occupational therapy. They are both outstanding

From an early age, I have known that one of the things I am passionate about is helping people in different ways. Because of that, I have taken the determination to study a career in which I can help and serve the people inside and outside of any job aspect, for that reason, I chose Nursing as my major and I was determined to not only be a Registered Nurse but a Nurse Practitioner. In addition, I am currently a dual enrollment student at Polk State College Gateway Charter School with a determined mind to reach my maximum potential, being a person who does not conform to the good but to the excellence. In fact, I'm proud to say that I started my undergraduate studies when I was fifteen-years-old, and I'm pleased to say that Polk State College has been an institution that has given me the access to an advanced field of education and the means by which I am achieving my personal and academic goals.

When I first started college, I had several questions I asked myself regarding my future. I thought about what my major would be and what my living arrangements would look like post-grad, but I never questioned what my future career would look like. While I had an overwhelming amount of options, I always had a fixed certainty that I would be in the medical field. The only question was in what capacity? Coming in as a freshman, I could have studied to be a surgeon, a doctor, or even a medical lawyer. Ultimately, I knew that changing people’s lives through medicine was my passion—I just needed to find an outlet. However, not once did my 18-year-old self think that I would find my way into a nursing career. As I’ve come to find, life rarely works out as planned. What lead me on the pathway to becoming a nurse is all but conventional, yet I would not change any

For the past year or so, there have been college pamphlets scattered around my car, dining table and room. I have mulled over everything possible, from colleges to majors and minors to careers. It’s been almost mind-boggling. At one point, I couldn’t decide between getting a PhD in Education to be a teacher or go for a biomedical career. I knew those weren’t the avenues I wanted to go down. Yet, the options felt so limited. However, I feel secure in what I have finally decided to do. The reason I never settled before now was because this goal always seemed unrealistic.

Growing up, I always had a knack for wanting to help others. Upon entering college I knew I wanted to work in a helping profession. I matriculated my college career as an Early Childhood Education major. My goal was to teach in low income middle schools and improve test scores of students. However, upon entering the program I knew that teaching was something that I was not passionate about. My grades began to slip and I was placed on academic probation. I was determined to find something that was for me in college. I knew that I wanted to continue to help others and after researching the many jobs a social worker can have is when I changed my major to Social Work. Choosing to major in Social Work was one of the best

After high school there is an endless amount of possibilities. Mom and Dad can’t hold my hand anymore; no one can tell me what is right and what is wrong. I now have the keys to the rest of my life; I’m only missing a map. When I was little I always answered the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” with “a mermaid”. When I was ten, I realized that that dream isn’t realistic. Now, I need to answer that question with a realistic answer. I’ve had an idea of what I want to do since sixth grade. I am leaning toward studying nursing, business, and early childhood education.