Finding Support From My Leaders

Being new is hard. I’m new to a profession, new to a school, and new to a district. There’s much to learn in what seems like an impossibly short period of time. Several nights throughout the week, I come home feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and defeated. Sometimes the lesson I planned was a disaster. Other times a teacher is upset because I kept a student too long. These little mistakes can grow into mountains of frustration. The bigger the mountain gets, the less and less I want to climb it.

Despite my feelings, I recognize that I have a level of support beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Our district has a Director of Elementary School Counseling who makes it her personal mission provide counselors with the resources they need to serve students effectively. We are held to very high expectations. Though the expectations are high, we have the tools we need to meet them.  We follow the ASCA model very closely and participate in monthly professional development opportunities. The goal is that every elementary school will have a comprehensive school counseling program. For school counselors to thrive, every school system needs this kind of visionary leadership. For me, the support from my leaders reminds me that I can climb my mountain of mistakes and stake my flag at the top.

My district also takes special care of its new school counselors. Each new counselor is assigned a mentor counselor, generally one who has gone through the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) process. The mentoring relationship is an opportunity for me to vent, share my accomplishments and frustrations, and tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience my mentor has gained over the years.

Above all, my mentor is a source of encouragement. I can tell her about my concerns and she reassures me that they are normal. It takes time to grow into a spectacular counselor. With every mistake comes an opportunity to learn and grow.  She sent me this quote by Oprah Winfrey in an email after our first meeting:

Be a Queen.  Dare to be different. Be a pioneer. Be a leader.  Be the kind of woman who in the face of adversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward the challenge.  Take it on! Be a truth seeker and rule your domain, whatever it is- your home, your office, your family- with a loving heart.

Be a queen. Be tender. Continue to give birth to a new ideas and rejoice in your womanhood…My prayer is that we will stop wasting time being mundane and mediocre…

It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, where you come from, who your parents are-nor your social or economic status.  None of that matters.  What matters is how you choose to love, how you choose to express that love through your work, through your family, through what you have to the world…

Be a queen. Own your power and your glory!

Each day I’m learning  how to be a pioneer because of the support I receive from my leaders.