After a stressful year for the counseling department, the school district will be adding a fourth counselor back to the staff. Math teacher Betsy Manning will be taking the position.

Manning interviewed for this position on March 24. Manning said she had wanted to be a counselor since she saw controversy with bullying a few years ago. Her experience motivated her to help find a solution and prevent it.

“It’s preferable that you have your Masters degree in School Counseling,” Manning said. “But you can also get a provisional license that says you’re working on your degree while you’re still working as a school counselor.”

Manning enrolled in October 2011 , working to get her Masters degree. Manning said this job will make it easier to get an internship, completing the rest of requirements to graduate with her degree.

“I finished all of my course work,” Manning said. “All the classes and book work all I have left to do is to is log hours and basically get an internship.”

Counselor Paula Bette said she and the other counselors are ecstatic to get a new member to help with the amount of work they have.

“Until you’re a counselor, you have no idea what we do,” Bette said. “There’s more than meets the eye. There’s a lot of paperwork involved, forms to fill out, scheduling that takes a big amount of time.”

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) has a recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor. Betta said currently Maize High has a ratio of 450 student per counselor.

“I just think it’s important to have more help,” Bette said. “So we can just meet with students whether it be groups or one on one counseling [and] just to be there to help.” 

Manning said she will miss the classroom a lot but she’s happy she will still be able to connect with the students through a new avenue.

“It’s hard to pinpoint any one specific thing I’m really looking forward to,” Manning said. “So I would just say helping in general and that’s what a counselor is … Building strong relationships and just being able to help students with whatever they need and recognizing that each student probably needs something different.”