A staff aide walks up to your teacher, and then your teacher looks at you and tells you that have been summoned to the counselors‘ office. This can only mean one thing…  Actually, it could mean many things.

The counselors do, as the title denotes, counsel their students, but that isn’t all. Both of them genuinely listen to the their students and try to help find ways to make things better and easier.

 “I’m a people person,” counselor Dawn Walls said. “The best part is talking to the students; having a conversation [with them] is fun!”

Walls, and the other counselor, Sara Tones take the time to get to know most of their students individually. Their typical days consist of parent-student meetings, dealing with schedules, and just talking to students who need someone to talk to.

“Everyone is different, so they need different things,” Tones said. “My goal is to help them to come see me less and less.

 Both of them are supportive towards students even when things are complicated. They talk things over with the students and their parents to ensure that each and every kid is able to walk across the stage when graduation comes.

Despite their supportivness, they do have things that they could definitely do without.

“Testing!” Tone said. “All of the different types of testing that is mandated takes away from time we could be spending with our students.  I think the school loses in the long run because there are things that we just can’t do because of the time that is taken away by testing.”