When I was 11 years old, the city of Albany, in Georgia, had a historic flood caused by a tropical storm. At the time, my grandparents were missionaries and interacted with the disaster-affected families. I served with them, mostly working with kids. My grandparents had such a heart for people that I ended up falling in love with service to others.
While I was not called to go into ministry, I was called to work with kids and families. After volunteering in schools, in Atlanta, I found my place in the counseling department. I remember thinking: These are my people, who get to work with students and their families. It’s everything I wanted to do. I’m in my 16th year as a school counselor and now work at Guilford eLearning University Prep, in North Carolina.
I’m an advocate by nature, but for years, I was doing it alone, asking administrators for additional support to help meet the needs of students, as well as meet the ratio recommended by the American School Counselors Association: One counselor or psychologist to 250 students. For me, that number was 400-plus students.
I was struggling to stay in the profession. It’s mathematically and humanly impossible for one counselor to meet the needs of 400 students and to do it well—along with my commitments to my family and volunteering with other organizations. I was exhausted.
It wasn’t until our 2018 May rally where I learned a group of educators, belonging to the North Carolina Association of Educators, were fighting for the schools our kids deserve: Mental health support, increase pay, a livable wage for employees so that could stay in this profession and not take on a second job.
These values aligned with me. And once again, I had found my people.
My union has given me so much light and energy to stay in the profession. They have given me a voice and showed how together we can give our kids the schools they deserve. Some of our wins include getting our district to use pandemic relief funds to open learning hubs for high school students and put additional funding for tutors in the budget, as well as working with voters and community allies to pass a $1.5 billion bond to modernize our schools.
Our union is the largest labor union in this country, and it's the largest for a reason. We’re able to make sure our students get the schools that they deserve, but also that the people who work in those schools get the support and pay they deserve. I encourage everyone to seek out their unions, join, and actively participate. It's the best kind of family.
