Counselors guide students to success

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Lucie Belvin

Counselor Connie Patterson finishes up her work for the semester. She assists students whose last names begin with ‘Re’ to ‘Z’.

Lucie Belvin, Staff Writer
December 17, 2016

Starr’s Mill is filled with students who learn differently from one another and who experience different bumps in their schooling career. No matter what problems the students are facing, the counselors always seem to have their backs.

“High school is very different from middle school when it comes to the problems students deal with,” assistant principal Krystin Glover said.

Finding out where to go to college becomes a big part of the high school career, especially for juniors and seniors, many of whom need additional help and guidance. The counselors create easy pathways to guide students through the college process.

“Very focused students know what to expect, like where to go to college or what classes they need to take,” counselor Colleen Petty said.

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Some students do not need help from their counselors for academics. Instead, they are needed for students who struggle with social, emotional, and personal problems throughout their four years of high school. “We often have students come in here with different personal problems,” Petty said. Although the students might have a hard time expressing their problems, the counselors are readily available and willing to listen and to give advice.

Counselors are also always working very hard  to keep students on track out of school hours. “I find it necessary to remain after work hours most days to get paperwork, recommendations, [and] emails completed,” counselor Paula O’Shields said.  “We stay [constantly] busy. However, we have additional work to do around college application deadline time.”

Without the counselors’ guidance, it may be more difficult for some students to succeed.  “Students would pretty much be lost without their counselor,” Glover said.  

Counselors guide the students through many processes that would be extremely difficult without their help. “We are here for our students,” Petty said. “They are our number one priority.” There never seems to be a moment that the counselors at the Mill stop assisting students with their problems.