The "Lone" Ranger

Getting ready for my second year as a School Counselor, I am filled with excitement and anxiety for several reasons-
Last year was new and shiny. If I made a mistake, it was easy to revert back to the ol' "oh, I'm new- whoops!". Yea, I'm not sure I can use the ol' "oh, I'm not new, I just messed up- whoops" :)
More importantly, I had three AMAZING mentors and role models to emulate during my first year as a School Counselor. Ms. "Z" was my district-appointed "mentor". She had been there for four years and I loved her ideas and her preparedness for EVERYTHING: meetings, events, programs we hosted, etc. She always had everything we ever needed and came with her own built-in Spell Check! She loved the students she met with and it showed. At the end of last year she made the hard decision to go back to school to become Nurse "Z". And if she puts HALF the energy into that as she did School Counseling, her patients will be darn lucky to have her!
Ms. "W" was the second counselor that made up our team. She had an enthusiasm that radiated off her. She had been there two years and Ms. "Z" had also been her mentor. Ms. "W" was a true "winner" in everything she did. She had great ideas and I heard SEVERAL students at our church's AWANA Program who loved the days when she would come into their classroom, see them for groups, individually, etc. I recently found out that Ms. "W" accepted a position near her hometown and will be able to be closer to her family. Being over 2 hours away from my own family, I definitely understand the importance of that! I am excited for her to start that adventure but she will be missed by her students, staff... and us!
Luckily, I still have Ms. "S", our Social Worker. She always has GREAT ideas and gets us involved in her programs, organizations, and has been the backbone for several new events the Counselors have put on, including implementing the "Parent University" workshops we hosted. I am not sure anyone has a bigger heart than her and our students LOVE it when they get to see her. Despite our groans when she starts a discussion with "now, I have an idea..." she always has great faith that everything will work out amazingly.
However, with only ONE year under my belt, I am now the most seasoned School Counselor for our Elementary team. I am anxious that I will forget something or lead the new counselors astray! If you have any ideas or suggestions, please comment and share your thoughts!
Even though they're some pretty big shoes to fill, if our new team has HALF the energy and excitement as Ms. "Z" and Ms. "W" showed, I think our students and staff will be very lucky!

(me, Ms. "S", Ms. "Z", and Ms. "W" celebrating the end of the 2012-2013 school year)
-JW