Our Northwest High School counselors do so much that the students do not see. Every semester of school, the students are given the option to change their schedules and select a class that better fits their interests. The question was presented: How does that extra work flood our counselors’ schedules, and how do they feel about it?
Marney Smith, a counselor at Northwest High School, answered the question. Smith stated that at the beginning of every semester, the counselors receive about 300 to 350 schedule change request forms. Smith also noted that with the three councilors all constantly working on finishing the forms, both during, after school, and also frequently late at night over the weekends, along with all of their other work, the counselors all work together to get them done within a weekend and a half to avoid complications with scheduling, getting Chromebooks, and becoming familiar with our classes.
“That’s why sometimes we have to come in on the weekends or we work on it at home in the evenings, because you do have all of your other stuff. Y’know, your mental health, and planning for different things as far as groups and working with family services and children’s aid, and doing referrals. We love our jobs and that’s what we do, so we make it all happen.” Marney said, “And a lot of times after school, I will go home and spend time with my family, make dinner, play games, and go to my son’s sporting events. And then we come home, and once he goes to bed, sometimes I stay up till midnight, 1:00 in the morning doing stuff for school, and then go to bed, get up at 4:30 in the morning, and come to school.”
When asked about how she balances her work and her family, she expressed how she sometimes has to miss out on time with her family to do her job, but she also said how much she loves her work just as much as her family.
“I call them my kids here at school because the kids here at school are also like my own kids, and I have to take care of them, too.” Said, Smith. “I honestly don’t mind coming to work every day because I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I love the students. I love the atmosphere, the environment here.”
Junior Emma Edinger gave a different perspective. When asked about her feelings and how she thinks about the negative effects while filling out the form, she expressed her anxiety about how it will add to the counselors’ schedules and possibly overwhelm them. Then, when informed about how the councilors feel and how much they adore the students, it lifted a strong weight from her shoulders.
“I get worried sometimes that I’m like, overwhelming them, and I feel kind of bad. When I am submitting it (a schedule change request form), I always want to leave a nice note. I always say please and thank you at the end, because they’re working so hard,” said Edinger.
After telling the truth about the counselor’s feelings, she gave voice to a different opinion. “It brings a lot of comfort to me knowing that they’re treating me with a full amount of respect and they’re taking my personal case into consideration.” Edinger added, “I’m less anxious about being ignored because I know that they value me.”
There is so much work done for us behind the scenes that we never think to look for or learn about. When you peel back that curtain and expose the heavy amount of things people do, we also see how much those people care about us and love what they do.
