South Orangetown Middle School

In recognition of National School Counseling Week (February 3-7), SOCSD highlighted unique contributions of our school counselors and the impact they have on student achievement and college/career planning in a five-day series on Facebook. Our nine school counselors were asked to share how they “Build Better Humans”–this year’s NSCW theme–through their professional practice and ways in which their students help them. View the District Facebook feed here.

Executive Director of Pupil Personnel Services Karen Tesik oversees school counseling district-wide and notes that our school counselors work collaboratively with all of our staff every day to make sure that our students:

1. Develop competencies in career/college readiness, academic skills and social/emotional development;
2. Develop self-awareness and self-management skills essential to success in school and in life;
3. Use social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships;
4. Demonstrate ethical decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts; and,
5. Develop skills to utilize personal and community resources related to mental health. Know when, where, what and how to ask for help for themselves and others.

“In successful schools, school counselors participate as members and leaders of the educational team,” she explains. “To guide our work and enhance our counseling program, we assessed our program, made necessary adjustments and developed our District Comprehensive Developmental School Counseling Program last spring. In this plan, we embedded the New York State Social-Emotional Learning Benchmarks and the New York State Mental Health standards, in addition to the school counseling standards. This school year, we are developing grade-level maps in each of these areas–critically important work in terms of #NSCW2020’s theme of ‘Build Better Humans.’”