I believe that children will and can produce according to the behaviors that are demonstrated and the values placed and modeled for each child/ student. There will not be a student limited to by their abilities due to their environment. This means that one as a faculty and staff it will be out duty to assist the students in their learning first by introducing the idea that the sky is the limit. We will challenge the student: academically, socially/emotionally, and any other area that demonstrates a need. 

As a school counselor it is my duty to advocate for the student in any area that challenges their growth and/or development. This means that it is even my duty to challenge or alter my approach if it is not serving a particular student. The school counselor must be willing to not only assess the program but also assess themselves. This will ensure that there are no extraneous variables affecting the children’s growth. Therefore the process of assessing and developing will be an internal on going process if necessary for the students growth. Also, as a school counselor if there is an academic struggle, I would advocate for the child by joining the teacher to further assist the child in meeting their goals in the classroom. The confidence of the student is priority. 

Although as a school counselor I will do my best by the students, faculty and staff ethical guidance provide for me guidance and protection to perform my duties. It sets the standards by which I am required to follow in order to remain at my top performance. 

As a school counselor my vision is to establish and maintain a relationship with the student, parents and teachers in order to demonstrate support for each entity. By establishing this alliance it is my vision that parents, teachers and I will demonstrate how to navigate life as a whole person based upon developmentally appropriate behaviors.

After taking the School Counselor Self Assessment I was able to gain an idea of my skills thus far. On the mindset portion, I gave myself a five. On all other portions, I gave myself a four. 

On the Mindset portion, I gave myself a five because I do feel as though I do have the correct mindset in order to be a school counselor and serve the student, parents, and staff. I gave myself a four for the Behavior Student Direct and Indirect Services portion. I think that I would do well in this aspect. My only concern would be standard BSS 6. Although it would not be difficult to collaborate with anyone for the betterment of the students, I wonder what it will look like if I did not have the support of all persons involved. In this case, I would go back to the drawing board in order to make sure I have collected adequate data and assessed the students correctly. Also, I would make sure that there is current evidence-based research to back me up. In this case, I gave myself a four for lack of confidence. I gave myself a four on the Behavior Professional Foundations portion because I am not as technologically savvy. I think this area could be a great area for self-disclosure. This means that I am able to share my experience with the students. This could also help build trust and perhaps the students can help me understand technology. Initially, I had given myself a four on the Planning and assessment portion, however; this part excites me the most. So, I will give myself a five on this one. I am very excited to serve the students in any way that I can.  I look forward to learning more about myself and others!

I decided to take the Age test and the Skin Tone test. The results from the Age test was that I moderately prefer Young people over Old people. I thought this was very interesting because I thought it would be the opposite. I had this initial opinion because normally I get along very well with older people. I can learn from their personal life stories. However, for a living I work with children. I would love to say that their assessment is absolutely ridiculous but its not-sadly. If I am around people that are younger I tend to show who I am at a much higher rate than I would if I were around older people. I think this is because of the way I was raised. My mother taught me to respect my elders. Sometimes I think that I have taken that a little too far. For example, if I am working with a person that is older I automatically take the “student” role. Meaning, I have a tendency to minimize my skills. It maybe a subject that I have more knowledge; however, I would go with what the elder is saying rather than my own experience. If I were in the same situation with a young person, it would not be the same outcome. It is not as if I do not have respect for them because I do. I feel as if I can actually stand my ground more. The environment, from my perspective, it much more relaxed. All things considered; I see why I moderately favored Young people over Old people. 

Skin Tone test
I decided to take this test because I thought it would be fun to see if it matched my celebrity crushes. As a teenager my celebrity crushes were Idris Elba, Taye Diggs and Morris Chestnut. I was intrigued by the test to see if would manifest my teenage crush. Surprisingly, it did not. My results suggested no automatic preference between Dark Skinned people and Light Skinned people. Teenage crush aside I do not have a preference. How I categorize people are based on character. I can get along with anyone expect people with major character flaws. I tend to stay away from people that lack dignity and integrity. It does not matter to me what color you are. If I see habitual actions that challenges standard demonstrations of dignity and integrity, I do not make a big scene or announce to the person; I simply make a mental note of it and behave accordingly thereafter. As I reflect on my circle of friends, I would say that as far as skin tone goes it is about the same. This evidence would not support the results of this test. However, I am not all that social. I was new to my high school and started talking with one girl. She introduced me to her friends and now we all have been friends for twelve years. I have one other friend that may be considered Light skinned. Her and I have been friends for about eighteen years. It seems as though although I am young I do not typically stray from the norm. This brings me back to the Age test. All in all I can see the results manifested into my personal life.