School counselors or guidance counselors are an integral part of today’s educational system. Their role serves to foster the proper emotional, social, academic, and career development of students. They help to ensure that the students of today become the well rounded adults of tomorrow. It is imperative that school counselors are present so that they may identify and address needs that students may have, thus eliminating stumbling blocks and promoting students’ academic achievement. Mrs. Smith is a guidance counselor at Nograles National High School. She is 59 years old and married with 5 children. She finished Bachelor of Science in Education in Guidance and Counseling. She received a Masters of Education in Guidance & Counseling from Ateneo de Davao University. She just wanted to teach Values subject in Davao City National High School and did not plan on being a school counselor. But,then, she later realized that she wanted to have more personal interaction and meeting different people.
She have been a school counselor for 17 years, prior to her work as a counselor she was a teacher for 4 years. Her experience working as a teacher helped her make the transition to a counselor. In addition, her salary is ranging in P19,000-21,000. She really like the diversity of duties. Her personality is such that she would not like to be in one classroom all day or sitting at a desk all day. According to her, being a school counselor means that every day is different and brings new challenges.
Furthermore, she stated that her primary role is to help students having misbehavior like absentism, cutting classes, vandalism and especially bullying. But, all a way around, she see the role of the counselor to be a social-emotional educator. According to her, a counselor is a teacher just like a classroom teacher, but instead teaches a different subject area. A counselor might teach a classroom, a group, or an individual student. She enjoyed it and working as a counselor in a population of 1500 is not stressful, all in all she is satisfied and 101% happy compared for being a teacher.
