"Rewards and Challenges"

It appears to me that the challenges of guidance counseling outnumber the rewards. However, the rewards outweigh the challenges. Every Guidance Counselor must have at least a dozen success stories. Stories that may not have been if it were not for the counselor's intervention. How challenging it must be to motivate a young person to not follow the same path as their peers or even their parents! Even more challenging is collaborating with a parent who does not understand or value the importance of education. I think it must also be very challenging to remain open-minded and unbiased regarding the data sources used to gather information on the students. While that data helps to determine what services that student may need, it does not determine who that student is or can be. Guidance Counselors know this and have the challenge of conveying this to the student.