Search the site:  
National News Video
Top Jobs
Science and Technology
Headlines   |   mouseover panels to open
World
Nation
State
Local
Silver Bluff High counselor is making the grade
7/23/2008 11:38 PM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend



By ROB NOVIT

Senior writer

Todd Bornscheuer, the Silver Bluff High School principal, was laughing when he suggested that guidance director Cathy Neal can never leave the faculty, at least as long as he's there.

"Cathy's responsibilities have greatly expanded," he said. "In a lot of ways, she's a right-hand man. She's now in a role that is expected to be so knowledgeable of school policy and school law."

Fortunately, Neal has no plans to leave Silver Bluff High. Ever.

"This is my second family," she said. "It's just an awesome place." In a way, her evolving career symbolizes the changes occurring in K-12 education. The guidance program itself has been revamped substantially.

The S.C. General Assembly approved the Education and Economic Development Act, legislation that requires more career-oriented exploration for students. In conjunction with the EEDA, all seven county high schools are planning implementation of the High Schools That Work (HSTW) initiative, which calls for the schools to demand and help prepare students for a higher academic rigor.

Neal attended HSTW state and national conferences recently. She and Bornscheuer addressed the Aiken County Board of Education on the program and her enthusiasm was evident. Neal spent five days at the national conference and crammed as many workshops in as she could.

"I was like a little girl at Christmas," she told board members.

Neal met informally with Silver Bluff department chairs last week, sharing some of the cross-curricular activities she found at the conference. It's not a role she expected, but she's delighted about it.

"We want to get kids read for the world of work," Neal said. "High school is a stepping stone for that; for students to be well-rounded so they can go wherever they choose to venture."

A former vocational-rehabilitation counselor, Neal later decided to return to college to become a school counselor. She eventually earned undergraduate and master's degrees and has an education specialist degree in guidance.

She started out in Area 5 as a career counselor before moving into full-time guidance at Silver Bluff. In addition to counseling, the job included scheduling, testing coordination and a lot of paperwork.

In the transformation of guidance in recent years, Michael Dixon is a "true" counselor, said Neal, while Silver Bluff also has a career counselor, Sue Carrick, and in conjunction with the EEDA, career specialist Gail Hicks. Neal continues to direct testing and registration and works with Bornscheuer on scheduling.

Her duties free the other counselors to work with students. However, Neal continues to work with seniors and assists them in finding scholarship aid.

Many components of the new legislation are already underway. Silver Bluff will start its third year of Freshman Academy, a program that provides classes specifically for first-year students and gives them their own teachers. Those students had the opportunity to learn how to behave, how to study and how to get along in high school, Neal said.

The EEDA mandates that the guidance staffers visit classrooms and Silver Bluff teachers have long supported their involvement. Academically, the school offers six Advanced Placement courses. Seniors at Sliver Bluff are discouraged from having an easy final year because colleges want them to take English and math as seniors, Neal said.

She shared cross-curricular opportunities with the department heads, such as sharing knowledge that extensive materials are available that cover 9-11 and the John F. Kennedy assassination. Neal also strongly supports a possible future opportunity -- assigning seniors each year to mentor entering freshmen. That would mean all the seniors, not just the highest achievers.

"All of them would have something to contribute in telling freshmen about their own experiences," said Neal. "This would get our at-risk freshmen more involved at school and decrease the dropout rate."

Neal has found an avenue to build relationships with parents as well as students. Individual Graduation Plans (IGP) require parents and their children to come to school periodically for consultation with the counselors.

"We're getting them involved and excited too," said Neal.

"It's about the human touch, more individual work with parents and students."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.





Share this story:

                           


  0 comment(s) on this story
Comment on this story
Comment Title:
Enter your comment here:  
Your Name:
captcha 84573a748bb4447aa3374897e7769649
Enter text seen above:
 
Special Sections View all special sections
Medical Minute brought to you by ARMC
Weddings
Just for Fun
Entertainment
Brides
Britt-Brown
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Edward Britt announce the engagement of their daughter, Miss Catherine Wilkins Britt of Aiken, to Mr. Scott David Brown, also of Aiken, a son of Ms. Karen Brown of Aiken and Mr. Ch ...
8/16/2008 9:42 PM
Bookings
Obituaries
Births
Science and Technology
copyright 2008 Aiken Standard, All Rights Reserved.