When I sat down with Mrs. May and asked her the question”What does your typical day look like?” you can imagine my surprise when she said “There is no typical

day” When you think of a school counselor you just think of meetings, paperwork and talking to students but the job is so much more. Mrs. May went as far as to say her job is “Super Not Boring” Though we can’t know about all her tasks within the school, she let us in on a few. 

Mrs. May’s school days are filled with meetings with teachers, students and parents. Around college season she reaches out to college representatives and even asks them to come present at our school. These visits are very important and beneficial for students to see how to apply and navigate the complicated college process. Mrs. May very strongly recommends going to these visits and stresses the importance of college representatives. 

As Mrs. May assumed, when I told her I interviewed a fellow student of mine Cameron Townsend, he didn’t have many ideas for what the counselors do, “The counselors? They just do our college stuff.” though Mrs. May wasn’t offended, she did want to educate all of us more on what she does. The new name for guidance counselors are School Counselors. They changed this name to be a better reflection about the job; they do more than just guidance.  “Around college season, I work from home quite a bit. My weekends are usually taken up by writing recommendation letters.” 

I asked Cameron Townsend What education do you think you have to achieve to be a school counselor?  “Probably an education degree, maybe even a psych one too.” And though he isn’t wrong in his assumptions, he didn’t realize that there are so many different paths one can take to becoming a counselor. In fact, Mrs. May says she took a “Very unique” one. Mrs. May got her masters in social work and it wasn’t until she had to cover for a school counselor who was on maternity leave that she realized she liked working with teenagers and at a school. Mrs. May remarked “My number one recommendation would be to do on-the-job training and even intern at a school.” 

Mrs. May has a passion for her job and always puts 100% into making sure students have plans for after high school. When I talked to Cameron Townsend, he said, “If it weren’t for Mrs. May, I would have had no idea how to apply to college, use common app, or even sign up for classes.” Many students agree with Cameron on the importance of school counselors like Mrs. May. “So, What are the best and worst parts of your job?” when asked Mrs. May answered, she said,  “The best is working with students and getting to know them. The worst is all of the paperwork.”