The most challenging situations unfortunately probably outweigh the rewarding ones but that is just because you are dealing with young students that have many "problems" in their daily life. I know of one challenging situation in particular that one of our guidance counselors had to deal with at our school and I am sure that it is more common than I think. There was a young man that did not know his mother and was being raised by his father until his father went to jail. He had no place to stay, no job, little food, etc. The guidance counselor was able to assist the student with getting his basic needs met to hopefully keep those worries from interfering with his studies. It is challenging because you can only do so much as a counselor and unfortunately, that student still dropped out of school. I know that it must also be challenging to see a student with a wonderful future throw it away over a senseless decision. I could never do this job because even though I am very close with my students, I do not know all of their heartaches and troubles, and do not think that I could emotionally deal with them.
The rewards may be few but they must also be great. I was speaking to a counselor the other day about one of my students. I was just making certain that she was on track to graduate this year. The counselor shared with me that this student was a behavioral problem in the past and has now blossomed to be a wonderful young lady. It must be exciting to see your work make a difference. It is also rewarding in the sense that the students that you assisted with college and career decisions go on to be GREAT people in society. As a guidance counselor, you can make the difference between if a student goes down the wrong path or down a highly successful path. It is the difference that teachers need to succeed also. We could not teach the students if the guidance counselors were not pushing them in the right direction.
Ginger,
ReplyDeleteHearing your story about the student that didn't know his mother and his dad was put in jail brought memories to me of a student last year. Within exactly one year, he lost both of his parents. His dad died in a car accident and his mother died of cancer. He was a senior. I know the guidance counselors along with all of his teachers tried everything we could to keep him in school. Some teachers called him every day to make sure he was awake for school and they would check my class to see how he was doing. It was a proud day for all of us to see him walk across stage and get his diploma. It would have to be days like that that are truly rewarding experiences for guidance counselors.