Carolyn Devlin, M.

Ed
Counselor
Glenelg High School

November 21, 2016

1. Background
a. 3rd year as counselor
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. Map out their students time in HS and college
b. Help them maintain healthy and challenging communication
c. Support their development
d. Help take ownership of their academics
e. Help them advocate for themselves
f. Take accountability
g. Teach them that how they meet the challenge defines who they
are
i. These are soft skills
3. What do you feel are the goals of this school for its students?
a. Student Improvement Program
i. Ties to county plan
b. Academically driven aspect of college & career ready
4. Academic drive
a. Instruments of measure for academics
b. Quantifiably driven, not qualifiably
i. Not every student can be based on a quantifiable
measurement
c. Student Learning Objectives
i. One was that 90% of rising Jrs will challenge
themselves in at least one or more ways
d.
5. How would you describe the culture of River Hill?
6. What resources are there here at River Hill for students emotionally?
7. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
8. How well prepared do you feel you send off your students to college?
9. What do you think in general is the high schools role in developing students
emotionally?

Caren B. Hoffman, M.Ed.

School Counselor
Glenelg High School
November 11, 2016

1. Background
a. 3 @ ARL
b. 3 @ GHS
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. Help them meet their potential
b. Feel balanced
c. Help them be happy
d. Focussed on individual student
3. What do you feel are the goals of this school for its students?
a. Help prepare students for life after high school
b. Help them be independent and responsible
c. Help them be academically prepared
4. Howard County?
a. Same ^ but more state expectations
5. How would you describe the culture of ghs?
a. Academically Motivated
b. College going
c. There is a pressure to perform well
6. How do you combat that pressure?
a. Naviance lessons
b. One on ones
c. To groups the message of creating a balancing act
7. What resources are there here at River Hill for students emotionally?
a. A mentoring program
i. Seniors/ upperclassmen volunteer and apply to be
apart of the program
ii. Upperclassmen become mentors to every new
student to the building (mostly freshmen)
iii. They are trained of their responsibilities and have
expectations to follow through with their mentees
iv. They are the Role Models of the school
v. Freshmen see some one to help them and look up
to
vi. Kids listen to kids
b. Mental health clubs none running currently
c. Morality boosting events
d. Speakers come in for mental health when needed, not every
year
e. Have a conversation with seniors about potential situations and
how to use their strengths to navigate those situations
8. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
a. Newsletter
b. At any opportunity to help them plugin to the resources
9. How well prepared do you feel you send off your students to college?
a. Independent kids that are seeking out their own concerns and
speaking up for themselves, not letting parents do it all for them
 i. Much more prepared with a better skill set
10. Is there any way to develop these skills?
a. Role of staff to model appropriate acceptance of emotions (in
light of the election) staff need to show students that emotions are okay but there
is a point that you need to move on.
i. Valuable life skill when youre going to have to put
emotions aside in order to be able to get a job done
b. Show them how to handle emotions in a way to help you be
productive
c. Teachers and students can treat kids as adults & hold them up to
their expectations
d. Give them a chance to connect things to real life
e. Help the student not feel powerless

Reflection:

This conversation with Ms. Hoffman truly was helpful and simply enjoyable. Ms. Hoffman is a
wonderful lady and she seemed very impressed with my research and the way I carried myself
even over the phone. Ms. Hoffman reiterated a lot of things that Ive been hearing from a lot of
counselors like use of Naviance lessons and the culture is academically motivated. Something
new that she shared with me that I have not heard before is of a mentorship program Glenelg
has where seniors mentor freshmen and new students through their first year. I think this is an
excellent encouragement for student to student interaction and helping students feel not so
alone their first year. Something that Ms. Hoffman kept coming back to was the phrase I need
to think of whats in my realm of control and this is such an interesting perspective that I think
will transform how I view my own research this year because it does often feel very daunting. It
was nice to identify an actual skill set that students need improvement upon for their college
years and that is independency. Suggesting a shift towards helping students be more
independent seems plausible.

Nicola Hildreth, M.Ed Cristina DeForge

School Counselor School Psychologist
Howard High School Howard High School
September 26, 2016

*Direct quotes are taken from follow-up questions via email.

See students as a part of a three tiered system.
The three-tiered approach can be used when thinking about how to provide assistance to students and, in
schools, it can address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional functioning.
Here's some information with regard to social-emotional functioning:
Tier 1 is always the 'school-wide' approach. These are preventative strategies that will
help all students. I know you and I talked about Kognito. This is the program that provides all school
staff with tools in approaching students that might have concerns. It's school-wide so that makes it a
Tier 1 strategy. Any kind of class lessons or presentations that are presented to all students fit this
category.
Tier 2 is about students who may need an extra intervention to be successful, maybe
within a small group setting. At HHS, we have small group instruction on organizational skills, Tutorial
classes for students who have difficulty with making good decisions (through our Alternative Ed
program), check-in with a support staff, use of daily or weekly check sheet that is monitored by the
school counselor, and other resources available to help students.
Tier 3 is about students who require intensive support and may receive assistance
through formal plans like IEPs or 504 Plans. They may have psychological services, classroom and
testing accommodations, Behavior Intervention Plans, staff communication with outside providers of
mental health services, and more intensive monitoring.

1. What kinds of resources do students have to receive emotional help here at Howard HS?
a. Clubs work individually to help their students. (Hildreth runs an ESOL type club for
hispanic students and will work with them on how to overcome specific struggles)
b. Guidance gives three lessons per year.
i. Have talked about coping skills and mental health issues in the past
ii. Well received in certain levels and not so much in others. Admits that an
area of need is that students sometimes do not take the lessons seriously
iii. Senior lessons about resources in college
c. Alternative Education courses
i. Students have a separate fourth period class that will teach them
specific things that they need. For students selected randomly.
ii. Take on student interns from universities that can plan and lead these
lessons and have in the past. Have done a Mindfullness course in the past.
iii. Students who are struggling with their behavior and there is
documentation noting that their behavior is impacting their academics/schooling may be
recommended for Alt Ed. Typically these students have had many interventions/strategies in
place before referral to Alt Ed. Students in the Alt Ed program typically . have a tutorial course in
their schedule to help them get through their day. Students can be selected as early as middle
school, if I'm not mistaken.
d. Self-care plans
i. For students with larger emotional needs than others
e. Flash pass get out of class for mental issues
f. Senior retreat
i. Half day
ii. Opportunity to teach seniors about mental issues and coping skills
iii. A tradition at Howard HS
g. Problem solving team
i. Administration, counselors, and teachers. Take on individual cases of
students and specifically sit down to determine what the school can do to best help the student.
ii. Interventive approach
iii. Look at data of student that teachers submit
h. Teacher resources
 i. Kognito program
ii. She thinks its very interesting and a good program.
iii. Shows different kids at different levels emotionally
iv. Important because teachers then know how to spot their students but it
also focuses on the importance of the intimacy of the teacher-student relationship in relation to
how a student would feel uncomfortable with a school psychologist they had never met before.
2. How do you feel the size of your school affects your schools ability to help its students?
a. Makes us less effective with tier 3 students
b. Less attention can go to the school wide teaching.

Were a good team

Helps them to be able to handle the incredible amount of students that use their services

3. How do you feel high school affects a students development of their sense of coherence?
(coping skills, habits formed)
a. Plays important role in cementing those coping skills
b. Lots of hormones, difficult time

4. Do you believe your high school prepares its students sufficiently emotionally for college?
Why or why not?
a. Yes
i. Students dont realize it while they are at Howard but she has had
students come back and say that they didnt think they were ready until they were actually
thrown into the experience.
ii. Howard counselors will talk with the parents about what the best place
for the student to go. About what is truly in their best interest.
1. Important to be honest with the student and
parents
iii. Will work with students and tell them about all of the resources they can
take advantage of in college.
b. Yes
i. But we recognize that kids will go off in different avenues.

5. What would you like to see improved in order to better prepare your students? Also the Hows.
a. Would like to see more school-wide training for 1st and 2nd tier
b. More school-wide approach
c. Spend too much time with tier 3 students
i. 85% of our attention goes to tier 3 students
d. See mental health education embedded into the curriculum
i. An extended 3rd that focuses on mental health

Important to teach the kids of their own preferences and what is in their best interests
Hinting at picking schools that are the right fit for the student rather than for the parents nor
society.

Follow Up Questions by Email:

What are your personal goals as a school counselor?
To help my students grow to become responsible, contributing members in society. It is my goal that I
will work as an advocate to assist in removing any barriers that may be hindering a students ability to be
successful in school.
 My goal as a school psychologist is to always work toward helping students make continuous
improvement in their ability to successfully navigate their environment, whether it's school, home, or the
community. We work with students on using strategies that will help them improve relationships and be effective
in their lives. It's important for students to be a part of developing their future goals (both short-term and long-
term) and be able to talk about whether they are making progress. It's also about teaching good problem-solving
skills that will help them throughout their lives.

Are there any ways that you see the Howard fails its students in emotionally preparing its students for college,
beyond the 3rd tier?
Our students who are emotionally needy often struggle with readiness for their next steps after high
school. They typically need more specific directions, frequent check ins, and more help navigating financial aid,
testing, etc. And, counseling along the way to keep the student motivated, help them with their coping skills,
encouragement, etc.

What efforts do you or Howard make to keep the students aware of themselves of the resources available to
them?
We share resources with each grade level during our first round of lessons. We share them when
parents ask for help, and we suggest resources when a student in struggling academically, personally or with
substance abuse.
The school counselors spend a lot of time with students in groups or one-to-one, sharing information about
resources. We also reach out to parents with the same information, and provide follow-up when we are making
suggestions for students to participate in counseling outside of school.

Reflection:

The student services team at Howard High School appears to be a very dedicated and caring team that
is conscious of the incredible number of students they are tasked with trying to help emotionally. Because of its
enormous size of more than 1,800 students, the small staff of 7 counselors and 1 psychologist (the largest team
in the county) work tirelessly to meet the needs of those students who demand constant attention and service. It
appears that the team receives so many students with individualized needs (Tier 3) that they are not able to
spend a sufficient amount of neither time nor resources on the schoolwide population of students who are still
struggling or are unaware they are struggling that still are in need of emotional education. Additionally, many of
the mental health resources available to students appear to be solely interventive because those students who
require intervention are the main priority of the student services team and capture a majority of their focus.
 I believe it would be interesting to learn of the opinions of the students at Howard in how they feel their
school prepares them because it appears that a vast majority of the students are not being taught basic skills
that will better their collegiate careers. This interview interjected the idea that I should ask students about what
resources they utilized in their high schools or which ones they knew about in my survey to college freshmen.
It was discussed what actions could be taken to strive towards the improvements that Mrs. Hildreth and
Ms. DeForge thought would better their schools ability to emotionally prepare its students for college.The idea of
something almost exactly the same as what used to be installed in River Hill called Extended 3rd, came up
from Ms. DeForge. The interesting thing is that Howard never has had an Extended 3rd with their Lion Times,
so Ms. DeForge came up with the idea of utilizing that time where the entire school will be available to manage
and teach about mental health and coping skills all on her own. Ms. DeForge strongly believed that instilling an
Extended 3rd lesson even within the decreased (for some schools it is an increased) amount of hawktimes is
a completely feasible idea. I believe this also is something tangible that can be something worth pursuing as a
product of this research.
Furthermore, Ms. DeForge brought up an idea that I have heard before of the possibility of instilling
mental health education within the curriculum of classes that do not relate specifically to the topic but could
easily be guided in that direction such as reading a book related to positive coping skills in english.
I thoroughly enjoyed this interview because I feel as though my asking of these questions had the
counselors open their eyes and think wait, maybe we should be doing something more for the tier 1 students. I
think it is very interesting and exciting how my research has that effect on these people who have the power to
do something about it.
The interview itself will be a reference point within or influencing my synthesis paper when I discuss the
specifics of the current systems around Howard County.

John Coughlin, Psy. D.

Director, Counseling and Career Services
Licensed Psychologist
Howard Community College

September 12, 2016

LP: What is your job title here and what are some of the things you do here?

JC: I am the director of counseling and career services, so I oversee everything that this office does.
Our office is split up into a couple things, we have career counseling, we do job search, career
 development and exploration and internship co-op placements. The other half does personal
counseling, group counseling. So I oversee the offices, I also see students for personal counseling.
I see between eight and ten students. And then as an administrator, I go to lots of meetings where I
try to develop different programs. I maintain a suicide prevention program actually called Kognito
that I promote on campus. So I can tell you about all the programs we do.

LP: Yea! Id really like to hear about all the resources there are for students mentally.

JC: Oh okay! So just cover everything?

LP: Yea! Sure.

JC: I dont know if theres a specific area youd like me to cover because we do a lot of suicide
prevention, warning systems to identify students of concern (making sure they get help). Is that the
kind of stuff youre looking for?

LP: Yea.

JC: Okay. Well Ill start with our Assist team. Every computer on campus has an icon, its called an
Assist icon, the Assist icon is basically a reporting system for faculty and staff. So if theres
somebody in the classroom that has made a comment or is appearing in a way thats concerning or
saying things that are disturbing, they can make whats called an Assist Report. The Assist Report
immediately goes to the core Assist team which includes myself, the assistant director in charge of
mental health services, Joy Stevens, the associative vice president in charge of student
development, and as well as the director of disability support services. We get that report, we
respond accordingly (we might just need to consult with the professor about how to talk to that
student, how to talk about our services and getting him to come in, and if its really severe we might
have to call the student directly). But were basically supporting them and helping the students and
getting them the help they need depending on the level of severity. So thats something thats built
into our system. Were constantly reminding people about the Assist icon and how to make Assist
Reports, how to identify students of concern. So recently I did a faculty and staff professional
development seminar on all of the resources that we have including the Assist icon. So if you think
about a community college, its a pretty mobile campus so we have faculty that come and go. So we
sort of having to remind faculty and staff about our services a lot because you get a lot of ______
faculty, people who are only here for a couple semesters so we are always are having stuff like this.
Thats a big one, Assist, we get a couple Assist reports every day and Janice whos the AVP is in
charge of following up with them and she will consult and say Oh, we got this student, what should
we do? How should we proceed? So we will consult about students like that all of the time. So
thats built into the college.

LP: Thats convenient.

JC: Yea! It is pretty nice. We also have whats called the Kognito program, University of Maryland,
School of Medicine gave us this brand new program And its basically a training program that
 helps faculty and staff learn how to talk to students of concern. What it is is the interface is like
youre an avatar, so youre in front of this classroom, you see all of these students in your class, you
can select five of these students, you can look at their behavioral symptoms, you can look at their
grades, you can look at their attendance. And then if you select one you can bring them back to
your office and talk to them one on one. It has dialogue options, How do you start the conversation?
How do you continue the conversation? And the object of the game is three of those five students
need to be referred to counseling [Discusses benefits of the program being online over in person
due to conveniency] The great thing is they have a version for faculty and staff but they also have a
version for students and the students can refer their peers as well. So we hired a part-time person
to promote it just to students, to get the word out there, to make sure the students are aware that
they can refer people as well Weve gotten nothing but great compliments on it. So if a faculty
calls me and says Oh Im so worried about this student. What should I do? I say Have you taken
the Kognito program? The number of students that come in that report an instructor symptom
went up significantly over the past year because we only implemented it last year. The number of
students that have come in and reporting suicidal thoughts have gone up. Meaning more people
are getting help because they need immediate help, theyre getting identified, theyre getting
sent over. Weve had more crisis, we have whats called crisis hours, where you can just
walk in at anytime and that number went significantly higher. So more people are just
walking in saying I need help. Whether its instructor referred them or theyre coming on
their own. So I feel like the Kognito program has been a big part of that.
[Discussion of how other colleges and universities can use the Kognito program also]
[Discussion of program used before Kognito called QPR (Question Persuade Refer) Can save a life
if you learn QPR just like you could save a life like CPR. An education program for non mental
health professionals of how to identify students in need and how follow up and react. Requires a
classroom and physical appearance.]
[Tabling events, work with wellness center to promote the counselling centers presence, suicide
prevention day, depression screening day, go into classrooms]

Our presence on campus is really important because theres people on campus coming and
going all of the time. So we are advertising that we exist and that were here, and were there for
them. So that not only the students here on campus that need our help but the friends of students
who need our help we want to say Listen you might not be suicidal but you might know
someone who is. Could you refer them to our services?

LP: How many students use your services?

JC: 700 maybe 10% The people that tend to come here, match the demographics of those on
campus.

LP: What kinds of issues do you see the students struggling with?

JC: [Discusses how the campus facilitates variety of students that veer away from traditional college
make up, students from all ages and backgrounds. Typical depression, anxiety, relationship issues
 (romantic, family), academic stress, people going through psychotic episodes, severe depression
with necessity of hospitalization. Blended and multilayered.]

LP: What kind of role do you think high schools play in preparing their students emotionally?

JC: I think the important thing is teaching them to learn to ask for help. I feel like everybody is
virtually connected I just want to make sure people can reach out for help. So I think the
important thing is making sure that students dont get isolated especially when they get stressed
out The worst thing you can do is keep your emotions to yourself and isolate yourself because
when youre alone with your thoughts it can get really dark and they can convince you to do almost
anything. And thats where stuff like suicidal thoughts pop up.
When they come to HCC they not only have counselling services, they have tutoring, they have
professors, they have disability support services But you have to be active and proactive and ask
for help
I would encourage high school(er)?s to check out all of the services they have and make sure they
use them because colleges and universities have tons of services and dont be shy to ask for help.

LP: What do you think from a high school standpoint can the high schools actually do for their kids?
Like is the Kognito program something that high schools could use?

JC: Yes they have a high school version of that, they have a middle school version of that, they have an
elementary school version of that. So yes absolutely should implement something like that.
Because it teaches them that they are helpers for their peers

LP: What do you like about working here?

JC: [Discusses his likes and dislikes]

Reflection:

This interview with Dr. Coughlin really exposed all of the wonderful things that even a
community college as HCC is doing to keep its staff, faculty, and students aware of the mental
health issues around them and what roles they play in helping those around them. A large takeaway
from the meeting was that there is a program called Kognito that could be implemented all the way
down to the elementary school level to begin getting students aware of their surroundings and
helping their peers. Jay discussed that he thinks his largest recommendation for high schools to
better prepare their students emotionally would be to teach them to ask for help. I interpret this as
high schools should work toward breaking down those stigmatic barriers and make it clear that
asking for help is good.
This interview was beneficial for future interviews in the way that it showed me that I would
like to draw out more information from the counselors regarding their opinions on high schools
roles. When listening back, my voice was croaky and quiet because I believe I was overly trying to
be relaxed. I need to be louder and a little more rigid (in a good way).

John M. Klyap, MS, NCSP

School Psychologist
Mt. Hebron High School

October 10, 2016

1. What is your focus/goal as a psychologist?

a. Deal with population of students that have emotional issues. Who
have IEPs, 504s, diagnosed with a mental disease (social educational issues).
Support them.
b. Not involved in supporting the student body.

2. Do you believe your high school prepares its students sufficiently emotionally
for college?
a. Does not know. Believes that it depends on the specific teachers
approaches of preparing their students.
b. It is not a big focus. Preparing student academically and getting
them into the best schools as possible is the focus.

3. What kind of need do you see in the entire school body for emotional education?
 a. There definitely is a need. Especially in the higher education
classes and students that are taking so many AP classes.
b. Kylap is concerned that the students dont know when theyve
push themselves too far academically and it has great detrimental effects. Has
seen cases where this has happened.

4. What kinds of resources do students have to receive emotional help here at Mt.
Hebron?
a. Counselors
i. Somebody to talk to.
ii. Klyap has meetings with counselors on how they
should spend their time with students helping them being realistic about
their schedules. The counselors have the ability to point out when the
students are pushing themselves.
b. NO specific programs geared towards mental health
5. Do you think that is an issue [that there are no programs for mental health]?
a. An issue more for colleges that they receive students who still
need emotional health.
b. Colleges have seen the need for emotional education so they
provide extended orientations
c. High schools are more focussed on getting kids into the best
colleges they can get them into theyre not as concerned as to when they get
there whats going to happen. Not that theyre not concerned but it hasnt been
on their radar. Should it be? Probably, that would be helpful.
6. What do you feel is the high schools role of helping a student developing? Either
emotionally or academically.
a. Primary role
b. Schools dont put emphasis on socio/emotional health
development of students
c. It is kind of an Add-on
7. Brainstorms of administrative changes and possible directions
a. AP teachers preparing their individual students emotionally
b. When he was in high school, they would have PE and health class
every year which he believes truly helped him to develop emotionally in high
school.
i. Should be a four-year progressive program.
c. Parent training
d. Sending a message from administration to teachers that class
does not always have to be a pressure cooker and to allow their students to
have some fun.
e. Integrate into curriculum
f. Teach students to recognize when they have pushed themselves
too far

The unfortunate thing is that the counselors are under pressure to increase the number of kids
that are in AP classes. So its kind of tough because the schools want to look good and have a
good reputation and be a top school and one of the ways that they rate schools is by the
number of kids that take AP classes and AP tests. So in order for the school to progress and to
get recognition is they need to get as many kids to take AP classes and AP tests as they can. Is
that the right thing to do? For some kids its detrimental and it turns them off from even wanting
to go college.

Reflection:

Based on solely Mr. Klyaps point of view of Mt. Hebron, I can conclude that Mount Hebron does
not do much of anything to help its students emotionally. Klyap seemed to like my research a lot
but also seemed to be taken off guard as if this notion of it is the high schools responsibility to
prepare its students emotionally for college had never occurred to him. Klyap appeared to be
open to the idea that high school played a role in the emotional development of students but
that it was the colleges job to help them more. In this sense, it would be the colleges having to
clean up the emotional mess that high school left behind. This thought process irks me because
of its incredible ignorance.
Conversely, Klyap seemed to be very aware of the pressures that higher level students
go through academically and consequently emotionally. We were able to brainstorm a few
plausible ways that change could be made to benefit the students.
Klyap had very little knowledge of what goes on in the school outside of his tiny office
which can lead to bias and uneducated answers and opinions. A discussion with at least one
guidance counselor would shed some more educated light on Hebrons work for its students.
Klyap was very open and honest about Hebrons supposed plain lack of adolescent depression
programs or resources of any kind and also gave a lot of honest quotes about how the school
system pressures the schools to encourage students to take APs.

Margaret Shomali
School Counselor
Grades 10-12
Hammond High School

October 26, 2016

1. How long have you been in the HPCSS / Hammond?

a. 12 years, all @ Hammond
2. What is your goal as a counselor?
a. To try to get students to have a plan after college or to help guide
them toward making a plan
b. Does this by talking to them individually
3. What kinds of resources does Hammond have for its students emotionally?
a. For special ed. students
 i. A time out room has a trained
professional there to help them calm down until they are ready
to go back to class
ii. Flash Pass
iii. Tutors for academic help (also for students with
504 plan)
b. For whole school population
i. Student Services
ii. Flash Pass
iii. Referrals from teachers
iv. Social Worker
v. School psychologist sometimes run groups
4. How do you make sure that the students are aware of these resources?
a. Special ed, IEP, 504 plan, previously been hospitalized
i. Personally make sure that they know the resources
and that there is support in place for them
b. Whole Pop
i. Naviance lessons
ii. Especially 9th grade naviance lessons they go
more in depth.
5. Mentioned Hammond has a needy population, please elaborate.
a. Have homeless students
b. 34% or 385 students are on a Free and/or Reduced Lunch
program
c. Affects their motivation in school because they often do not know
where they will sleep that night. Often parents are working up to 3 jobs that
makes them absent from their lives so the students make poor choices. School is
not a priority.
6. How would you describe the culture or environment at Hammond?
a. A LOT OF SCHOOL SPIRIT
b. Overall a very positive culture
c. Have an amazing principal who really tries to help the students
7. How prepared do you think the students who go off to college are?
a. She thinks they are prepared
b. Has not really heard of anyone who has not done well
c. Says the ones who go off to 4-year colleges are those who took
the APs and are very motivated to do well and more likely to stay in school all
four years.

Reflection:

Its hard to come to a conclusion about Hammond and how it prepares students for college from
this discussion. Ms. Shomali was very relaxed about the topic and seemed confident in the
students that she sends to college. It appears that Hammond is actually very student focussed
because it has such a needy population and also the environment appears to be much more
supportive and emotionally positive because the academic standards are far lower than at a
school such as River Hill. This is a very intriguing insight into what is considered one of the
lesser schools of the county because even the counselors appear to see happy students that
are variously concerned about academics. Hammond appears to do a lot to support its students
emotionally because so many are deemed by the county to be under the poverty line so the
students concerns are far different than privileged students at River Hill.

Michael O'Shaughnessy, Psy.D.

School Psychologist
Atholton High School

October 20, 2016

1. Background.
a. 10 years elementary school. 8 years middle school. First year at
Atholton HS.
b. Provides support for individual students.
c. Role is to be there and accessible.
d. On a county-wide crisis team moves to a building after a crisis in
order to be available
i. Working to build a crisis team at AHS
2. What ways have you found been effective in getting your presence out there?
a. Mainly has been using word-of-mouth
b. Could have appeared at Back to School Night
c. Set up a website attached to the school website
d. Appear at assemblies by grades
e. Appearances in classes (maybe health classes)
f. Has his name on door
3. How well do you think your school is preparing its students for college?
a. I think we can do a much better job
b. High pressure to be focussed on academics
c. Observes that the level of anxiety has significantly increased from
when he began counselling.
d. Counselors are busy enough with schedules and college stuff
4. What resources have you observed your school has for its students emotionally?
a. Not a whole lot for the student body
b. PBIS (positive behavior reinforcement program)
c. No presentations to school body
d. Observes that the teachers try to be supportive
5. Exploring possible resources for students emotionally
a. Mandatory classes (health curriculum)
b. Teaching students about their resources and how to use them
6. What role do you think a high school plays in the emotional development of a
student?
a. High school years are important
b. Middle school might be the most important years emotionally
 c. High schools do a decent job but could do better job
d. Does not know where the issue stems from in HC guesses budget
cuts, understaffing?

Reflection
Due to this being Mr. Os first year at Atholton High School, his opinions should be taken
with a grain of salt. However, having put two children through high school himself and having
been in the county for 19 years, Mr. O appears to have some cognisance of the amount of focus
that howard county puts towards helping its students emotionally. I asked Mr. O what he is doing
in order to get his presence known in Atholton in order to start brainstorming ways to spread my
messages. Having worked in middle school for the past 9 years, it is understandable that he
would be biased to say that middle school years are the most important for emotional
development. I still do not have an understanding of Atholton high school and its focusses
towards the emotional development of its students.

Michael E. Krouse, M.Ed.

School Counselor ITL
River Hill High School

October 26, 2016

1. How long have you been in the HPCSS?

a. 18 years educator
b. 16 years in RHHS
c. 6 years counselor social studies teacher before
2. What kinds of resources do students have emotionally?
a. Each counselor now has about 300 students on caseload
i. Impacts ability to help students
b. We are the middle man
i. Crisis counselling
ii. Advocate for students
iii. Consult with outside providers
iv. Coordinate with outside providers
v. NOT therapy - trained to but not their job
c. Calm down anxious students and deal with particular cases
d. Will talk with students about where to get help academically or
emotionally
e. Talk about what is best for the student
f. Suicide interventions
i. For past three years, between 30 and 35 each year
ii. Series of questions to determine a students level of risk
g. Teacher referrals or self-referrals
 h. Health class
i. When they have the depression unit, there is a influx of
students who self refer which makes me believe that the more we talk about it,
the more kids are aware of it, maybe the more students who would come here.
3. Culture
a. A great deal of it is caused by the stress and the environment and the
culture we have here at River Hill.
b. The culture is that they are going to get As no matter what, they are
going to do whatever it takes.
c. Asian culture is harder to get into therapy. Pride and privacy thing.
4. What do you do to let the school know that these resources are available?
a. Lesson with freshman solely to talk to them about who they are
b. Naviance lessons (3 per year) always remind them
5. Any specialized lessons or groups?
a. Have done some stress management groups
b. Dont do a lot of specific lessons
c. 1 lesson about college with seniors warn them about the dangers and
difficulties of college.
6. Do you think that is a possibility?
a. It is a possibility. But it comes down to a time issue.
b. College and career readiness.
c. Difficult to do in a large group.
d. Dont think they have enough resources or counselors in order to be able
to follow up with each and every student.
e. Counselors would like to be able to do that but other responsibilities are
data driven.
f. That is the focus. If you were to ask each of these counselors why they
went into the profession, that is the focus. We want to help students socially and
emotionally, thats probably our main reason for going into this. It wasnt to help kids get
into Harvard, that wasnt really what we got into this for. Its just what the job has
become.
7. And is there not much that can change that?
a. It would take a different mindset from the top leadership down as to
what is more important. Heres the question I would love to ask our superintendent, our
principal, the parents of this community, If students received an average education and
got into average schools but were the happiest kids in the United States, would you take
that over students who achieve the highest academic performance, get in to the highest
schools, but are miserable? Which one would you rather have? I would [rather the
first]. Are we working towards that? I dont think so, I think we are working towards the
second one. So what were trying to do is to achieve the highest academic performance,
have kids get into the highest academic schools, and try to make them as happy as
possible. And Im not sure its working. So somethings got to give.
b. They have been talking about it a lot.
c. Up against the cultural issue of the school. Belief system of competition
d. Over 70% of our students had competing in their top 3 of their strengths
8. Emotional problem sources
a. Technology & Social Media
i. Lack of relationships
ii. Low human interaction
9. Student survey results
a. High performing skills like River Hill had highest engagement and highest
hope but lowest well-being
b. Schools with least engagement and hope had highest well-being.
 i. Less pressure to do well academically

This discussion with Mr. Krouse was very insightful and needed. Mr. Krouse has a lot of opinions
on my research and was very willing to share them and his true thoughts on my research and what steps
could be taken towards my goals. The biggest piece of knowledge that Mr. Krouse shared with me was
how in order for this large amount of change to occur, it would take a different mindset from the top
leadership down. We discussed how River Hills really only resource for its students is the student
services center and even they can not do much nor spend a lot of energy or attention on actively
educating the student body because they are so tied down with college applications. Krouse seems to
blame a lot of the emotional struggles that students go through at River Hill on the competitive culture. I
myself think the only competition I feel as a River Hill student is from myself because others grades don't
affect mine but more the competition to get into college is more of a competitive driving factor. Mr. Krouse
speaks for the counselors when he says that they would all rather be doing the socioemotional work than
the college work that they are required to do. Mr. Krouse is a strong voice for what an aware counselor is
seeing in the county.

Mindy Hirsch
Counselor
Glenelg High School

November 16, 2016

1. Background
a. 7 years @ glenelg
b. In Hoco since 1992
i. Atholton River Hill Reservoir
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. Help them learn to transition from 9th to 10th grade
b. Help them find a voice
c. Advocate for themselves
d. Help them be able to find resources
e. Have a game plan for after high school
3. What do you feel are the goals of this school for its students?
a. Much of the same as her own
b. Help them find strength
c. Help them identify their skills
d. Be college and career ready
4. Howard County?
a. Similar
b. Philosophically I have stronger goals for student emotional
wellness
c. More academic goals
5. How would you describe the culture of River Hill?
 a. New student said Friendly, welcoming, smiling
b. Respect one another
c. Not many fights as other schools
d. Were a really good team, close and supportive of each other
Speaks highly of the dynamic between counselors
e. People feel comfortable
6. How do you see academics affect students?
a. All depends on course level you choose stressed out
kids
b. Lots of support there
c. Students know how to work with teachers
d. Students cope pretty well
7. What resources are there here at River Hill for students emotionally?
a. Encourage one adult in the building they trust
b. Tutors and Homework club
c. Counselors
d. Student Resource Officer getting his masters in counseling
e. Mentor program
f. School psychologist
8. How do you enforce students having an adult in the building they trust?
a. Talk about importance of having one with students
b. Work with health teacher to go into classes
c. Talk to staff
d. Have teachers in hallways between classes
9. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
10. How well prepared do you feel you send off your students to college?
11. What do you think in general is the high schools role in developing students
emotionally?

Patricia Derwart-Marton
School Counselor
Mt. Hebron High School

November 14, 2016

1. Background
a. 6th year at Mt. Hebron HS
b. 12th year in HoCo
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. Remove barriers
b. Guiding the students
c. To remove barriers that keep students from accessing resources
3. What do you feel are the goals of this school for its students?
 a. Help them achieve academic excellence
b. Create a supportive environment
c. Ensure they have a voice
d. Meaningfully engage students
e. Assist personal growth
f. Help prepare them for future
g. Encouraging personal accountability
h. Enriching whole person
4. Howard County?
a. Each mission supporting broad initiative
b. Academic excellence and achievement
c. Creative thinking
d. Supportive environment
5. Do you feel a push for HCPSS academic initiatives?
a. A fine line
b. Tries to make sure her kids are challenged
c. More guides students rather than pushes
d. Mental welfare is what is most important her #1 priority
e. I encourage personal success and scores will come naturally
6. How would you describe the culture of Mt. Hebron?
a. Diverse community
b. spirited
7. What resources are there at MHl for students emotionally?
a. Black student achievement
b. Esol program
c. Special Ed
d. School Psychologist
e. A Director over the counselors
f. Tutors and academic programs
g. Mental health resources NAMI (referral based)
h. Naviance
i. Health class stress, suicide prevention
j. Coping skills individual counselling
8. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
a. Talk about counseling offices and resources in the counselors
i. Counseling team goes into classes in the beginning
of the year
ii. Class meetings
9. How well prepared do you feel you send off your students to college?
a. Depends on the kid, depends on the college
b. Can be academically prepared but unsure what life at home is
like for students
c. They have access to the foundation
d. Have the ability to access but it depends on if they choose to use
it
10. What do you think in general is the high schools role in developing students
emotionally?
a. Working in certain settings
i. English content teacher opportunity to teach life
lessons
 b. Educators care and want to help students to be happy
c. Role models
d. No specific structure to helping students emotionally
e. Educators job to guide and educate and help
f. Help students thinking in different ways
g. Encourage self explorations
h. Enforce characters, encourage good morals

Reflection:
This conversation with Mrs. Derwart-Marton was quite unhelpful. The conversation was rigid
and straightforward, it was obvious that she was trying very hard to be politically correct which
made for a very redundant conversation. I wish that she might have been a little more
comfortable with the conversation like the other counselors Ive been talking to; however, her
reaction is reasonable. Most counselors appear to be concerned with their opinions being
voiced as if having an opinion on the corruptness of our school system in terms of mental health
would somehow instigate them losing their job or get them into trouble. This conversation was
mostly useless because it was like I was reading an initiative report from HCPSS.

Phil Cohen
School Counselor
Atholton High School

November 11, 2016

1. Background
a. 1.5 years at River Hill as paraeducator
b. 1 intern at Atholton
c. In 3rd year as counselor at Atholton
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. First is academic success (school counselor)
b. Help students have a good experience that is beneficial
c. Prepare student for post high school life
d. More focused on relationship and emotional part
i. Take more emotional barriers into consideration
over HoCo admin
3. What do you feel are the goals of this school for its students?
a. Same ^ ?
b. More academically focussed for college
c. Create opportunities for students
 d. Create a safe environment for that to happen
4. Howard County admin?
a. To become the highest performing academically
b. Produce high performing students
c. Boost Test Scores, AP Assessments, Grades to confirm the
Countys place in nation standings as best
d. Number results
e. Additional opinions:
i. Focussing on Academics is not necessarily a bad
thing
ii. But the best learning styles are not always ways
that produce good test scores
iii. Number results cannot be the only driving force
behind a school.
5. Do you feel a pressure from admin to meet these expectations?
a. The initiatives are reiterated push for taking AP classes then AP
tests. Also to take SAT and ACT
b. Trickle down push (to principals to counselors)
c. Additional opinions:
i. His concern is more for the students individual
needs over those initiatives of the county
ii. Communicate to the community that students need
a balance (in college nights)
iii. Help individually
6. Do you feel like sometimes you are butting heads with those initiatives?
a. Thinks they have Same goals but different strategies to achieve
those results
b. Says the county is extremely proactive and resourceful about
mental health
i. They understand theres an issue with mental
health
ii. Training courses for counselors
c. Additional opinions:
i. There needs to be more of a global push for
mental health
1. A bigger umbrella
2. In regards to teaching teachers to be
able to identify students with mental health
3. Theyre trying
ii. Blames the country who doesnt know how to deal
as a society. As a culture, mental health is taboo, embarrassing, and
shameful
7. How would you describe the culture of River Hill?
a. Immediately responds High stress
b. High achieving students
c. Has been an increase of mental health issues in students
i. More students coming into his office
d. Unsure where that stems from maybe community / parents?
8. What resources are there here at River Hill for students emotionally?
 a. We struggle
b. Groups student voice group
i. Breaks down the student-teacher relationship
issues
c. Grassroots is right next door to the school
i. Cohen uses exclusively
ii. Offers services the schools cant provide
iii. Students arent aware it is an option unless being
directly suggested by Cohen
d. Cohen has conversations with parents and students
9. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
a. Naviance lessons
b. Speakers come talk about mental health
c. Talk to parents about mental health concerns Information Nights
like back to school night and college night
d. Bully-free club
e. When with an audience, tries to communicate that counselor is a
first resource
10. What do you think in general is the high schools role in developing students
emotionally?
a. Not a high schools role to be the frontrunner of emotional
development of students but it has become that. By default it has become an
important part of the school system.
b. School is secondary to home life and community.
c. School is responsible to place students in accurate classes, to
have open door policies (teachers & counselors), and to have non-apathetic
teachers
d. Encourage more peer to peer approach where teachers dont
always wear the teacher hat in every conversation
11. Additional Thoughts
a. Being a teacher / counselor is difficult
b. There needs to be a shift in education and supporting students
c. But its is not an HCPSS issue the school system is broken in
general. It is a failing business model

Reflection:

This conversation with Mr. Cohen was very insightful and eye-opening in certain regards. Cohen
reiterated certain things Ive been hearing about the administrative push for SAT and ACT and
AP scores from students and also the biggest way they reach the whole student body is through
Naviance lessons. However it appears that Atholton has certain things that other schools do not
such as being in proximity to the Grassroots HQ and also groups such as a student voice group
and a bully-free club. Something very interesting was that it did not take Mr. Cohen even a
second to think about how to describe the culture of his school; he immediately responded high
stress to my question. Interestingly, from Cohens perspective, HCPSS is actually sitting well in
regards to mental health even though it is lacking so much; Cohen blames the nations
stigmatization of the disease and also the brokenness of the school system. When asked what
the general role of the school is in the emotional development of students, Cohen says it should
not be a schools role but it has become that. Cohens global perspective of the issue of mental
health will help me to keep my head screwed on straight and be able to tell the Board that I
understand its not their fault but they have the ability to do something for HCPSS students.

Philip Vangeli
School Counselor
River Hill High School

October 24, 2016

1. How long have you been here at River Hill/in Howard County?
a. 16 years in HoCo
b. 22 years as a school counselor
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. To help them meet their goals
b. Help them to set goals for themselves
c. To help them be a successful student both academically and
socially
3. What resources are there here at River Hill for students emotionally?
a. Counselors
i. Academics, scheduling, problems with teacher or
students, considering suicide, encouraging peers to tell somebody
b. Psychologist
4. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
a. Naviance lessons
5. How well prepared do you feel you send off your students to college?
a. Depends on the students
b. Feels that homesickness plays a large role in students adjustment
c. Have a handful each year who end up switching from 4-year to
HCC either thinks this is because of homesickness or it wasnt what they
expected.
6. Is there any way that we can prepare them for this switch?
a. An alumni panel, have done in the past but had low turn out.
7. How does the schools size effect your ability to help your student?
a. About the same because county bases it on ratios of about 250:1
8. What do you think in general is the high schools role in developing students
emotionally?
a. Academically geared but from past to now we have more students
with emotional issues
b. The role of the school is to work with the students, maybe identify
students that are troubled, and we do that Generally, we identify those
students, and if we feel that they need additional support, we would contact the
parents and suggest counseling.
c. Teachers send in referrals
 d. Health program - when they go over depression they get a lot of
self-referrals
e. Try to identify students with substance abuse issues
9. What kinds of trends do you see in the students that refer themselves?
a. #1 Anxiety
b. #2 Depression
c. Feeling subpar to their peers and perception that they are failing.

Reflection:

This discussion with Mr. Vangeli was very productive in the sense that he agreed to
assist me in my research. Mr. Vangeli agreed to and already has sent me data about River Hill
and he also has agreed to send my survey out to college freshmen from River Hill through
Naviance. He was very encouraging and supportive of my research.
Mr. Vangeli appears to be confident that overall River Hill sends its students off to
college prepared for its emotional tolls. In past years, Vangeli has spearheaded an alumni
student panel for seniors and juniors to ask questions about college, this seems to be a very
doable project. Similar to other schools, the student services and the psychologist are really the
only emotional resources available to students. In my opinion as a student at River Hill, student
services is a very prominent part of the school and their resource as a place for emotional
issues is well-known. Vangeli sees many kids who put so much pressure on themselves to do
well academically and to live up to the standards of their parents, peers, teachers, and school-
system that they crack into anxious messes.

Marianne Pizzo M.Ed

School Counselor
River Hill High School

November 10, 2016

1. Background
a. 13 years
2. What is your goal for your students as a counselor?
a. Meet academic , socioemotional, career needs
b. Graduating, mentally healthy, successful academically
c. College counselling
d. Counselling parents
3. How do you help emotionally
a. Intertwined with other issues
b. Look for signs, academic physical. Rely on teachers
 c. Meet with every kid that has an E. work with them to fix it. Reach
out to parents. Provide academic resources.
4. What do you feel are the goals of this school for its students? Howard County?
a. Rh -- contributing members of society _ Graduate with GPA you
want
b. Howard --
5. How would you describe the culture of River Hill?
a. Academic concerns students are overscheduling themselves
b. Competitive
c. At what expense
6. How might you fight that?
a. Having principal admin have a conversation with them do you
know what youre getting into?
i. Has been a conversation between counselors and
principal staff
7. What resources are there here at River Hill for students emotionally?
a. Counselors call parents, suggest therapy
b. Access to youth crisis hotline, Grassroots app There is Hope
Have them download
c. Mobile crisis team
d. School resource officer - trained for mental health calm them
down
e. Every Naviance lesson encourage students to tell
f. Health class
8. How do you help students know that they have access to these resources?
a. Naviance Mass way
9. How well prepared do you feel you send off your students to college?
a. Not a lot of academic robots send well-rounded students
b. College panel
c. More time academically prepared
d. Does not know about emotionally prepared. I dont know
e. How independent students really are? (PARENTS?)
10. What do you think in general is the high schools role in developing students
emotionally?
a. Wholesome look at students as people
b. Teacher-student relationship
c. Role is to develop a relationship so they can