Rewards and Challenges of Being a Guidance Counselor (Lyndi Quinones)

Guidance counselors are able to directly impact student success in academic, career development, and personal growth. They offer the students an outlet when parents, teachers, and peers have not had an understanding rapport with them. With the implementation of specific standards and legislations, guidance counselors are able to provide services with students before personal crises or academic deficiencies become too big to bear. They share in the successes of the school by being advocates not just for the students they serve, but also for the teachers who often times are blamed for students' personal and academic obstacles in school. On that same note, teachers and guidance counselors can disagree on the roles that the latter takes on, relying on guidance counselors to be disciplinarians instead of meaningful members of the faculty. Due to the many roles guidance counselors undertake, they may not be ultimately happy with what they are doing, and the passion that brought them to this field may be lost to more mundane tasks within the school. Opportunities for professional development seem limited to mostly teachers, so the thought of having them be absent to attend conferences or other events may be an expense that the school may not pay or grant to them. All in all, the importance of guidance counselors within high schools is felt with much praise for them, but there needs to be more of a balance when it comes to giving them adequate time to complete the job they signed up to do.