Sara Grace Vann -- Guest speaker

Sara Grace Vann, a counselor at Woodside High School was the guest speaker in EDCO 215 this week. She's had experience as a counselor in elementary, middle and high schools. In her high school there are several school counselors (I didn't write down the number), every student has a guidance counselor (Sarah has a load of over 300). Her work as a counselor involves meeting with students and parents, working with teachers, working with special education students, ensuring that students meet graduation requirements, writing college references, arranging for mandatory tutorials for students receiving Fs. She also refers to students to appropriate agencies for counseling. She enjoys her work, but wishes that she had more training in special education and school budgets and grant writing. She recommends people wanting to do school counseling get experience in reading transcripts, classroom management and scheduling.
I asked her what a typical day was like. She said there wasn't a typical day, but went on to describe her counseling activities at the beginning, middle and end of the school year (getting to know the incoming freshmen, writing college references for senior students)She works with a group of counselors and interns and doesn't do yard duty!
Sara Grace stayed and participated in the Group Counseling presentation and seemed to enjoy it.
I'm finishing this a week later and wishing that I'd organized my notes better.