School Counselors are in the House – the State House, that is!
Vermont is a very small state, and the Vermont School Counselor Association annual conference is not the multi-day extravaganza that associations from larger states offer, but this year school counselors from the Green Mountain State got to feel especially important when the VTSCA conference was held at the State House, in the chamber of the House of Representatives. (And we got to meet a presidential candidate! More on that later.) The theme of the conference was Mindfulness, Movement, and Motivation, and we got to experience some of each of those in a very grand setting.
The Chamber is a tad fancier than my usual school-day digs.
There are not all that many conference centers in Vermont, and all education-related ones tend to be held in the same few, so I (fabulous mentor that I am), having skimmed passed my eyes over the registration materials only long enough to sear the words “Montpelier” (the only U.S. state capital without a McDonald’s) and “Capital” into my brain, blithely led my new counseling colleague to the Capital Plaza Hotel instead of to the State House. Thankfully, the guy at the front desk was better informed than I, and we walked back toward the golden dome. (Hey! New idea for Montpelier’s motto: Who needs the Golden Arches? We’ve got the Golden Dome!)
Now THAT’S what I call a conference center!
The keynote speaker was – no, I’m not being judgmental – a clown! — Insert your own joke about clowns in the legislature here. — Troy Wunderle, from Wunderle’s Big Top Adventures is the artistic director of Circus Smirkus and director of clowning for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. A few years ago he came to my school for a circus residency that we held in conjunction with our Healthy Brain/Screen Time Turnoff Week. It was a huge hit with the kids and it gave them lots of ideas of fun, brain-healthy things to do in place of screen time. Troy is graduate of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. Just imagine the recommendation letter his school counselor must have written for him:
“Troy can always be relied upon to disrupt the serious business of learning with his uproarious hijinks. He is a skilled multitasker who juggles many
extracurricular activitiesballs. I highly recommend him for admission.”
VTSCA’s esteemed keynote speaker.
With Troy as our ringmaster, we learned some new balance, juggling, focus, and cooperation skills (great metaphors for school counseling!) and then related them to our work with kids. It was hilarious, fun, relaxing, and pertinent. Even though we were not allowed to bring coffee (or any food or drink) into the chamber, everyone headed off to their break-out sessions energized and smiling.
Vermont school counselors doing a balancing act – just like we always do, except this time it was with peacock feathers! The brightly colored scarves on the desk were from our juggling activity.
I attended sessions on Using Nature, Meditation, and Movement in Trauma Treatments with Children and Adolescents and Online Mindfulness for the Whole School, and got some great ideas and resources. I’ll share some of them after I’ve had a chance to road test them.
During our afternoon break we enjoyed complimentary Ben & Jerry’s ice cream while sitting on the State House steps, had the opportunity to try out some circus activities on the State House lawn, and networked with other school counselors – and a presidential candidate. No, not one of those presidential candidates – they never come to Vermont! (Wait, a correction: one of the current candidates for U.S. recently stayed in Vermont while prepping for a debate, but when he emerged for a campaign appearance, it was across the river in New Hampshire.)
Never mind, we have clowns, and Ben & Jerry, and, that day, an ASCA presidential candidate! Bob Bardwell is a a former ASCA Vice-President, past Massachusetts state association president, adjunct counselor educator, and practicing school counselor. He’s also a friendly and helpful guy! After a brief introduction, I asked him for his thoughts about advisory councils for school counseling programs. I had been torn about the idea of creating one for a couple of reasons. I saw some great potential benefits, but was hesitant to proceed because of fear – of yet another committee to chair/meetings to run, of putting the burden of additional meetings on some of the key people I would want on an advisory council, and (frankly) of being deluged with and then having to nix well-meaning but unworkable suggestions for additional activities. Bob was so helpful and shared some great ideas and experiences he has had with his advisory council. Thanks to him, my counseling partner and I will be moving ahead to assemble an advisory council for our school counseling program. This past week I came across some advice Bob gave to another school counselor who was asking about advisory council agendas on ASCAScene. If you’re a member of ASCAScene you can check it out in the Advisory Council Agendas thread under Discussion Topics.
I was really struck by Bob’s knowledge of and commitment to the field of school counseling. He will definitely be getting my vote. You can link to all the candidates’ information here. Voting is October 12-November 12, but can’t seem to get on the online voting site even though it’s October 13, so that’s on my troubleshooting list! Any suggestions/solutions would be most welcome! Meanwhile I’ll try some of the mindfulness techniques that I learned at the conference. They also come in handy when frustrated by tech glitches!
Attending a school counseling conference in the Vermont State House was lots of fun, and certainly memorable. What could top that? Perhaps a school counseling conference in the birthplace of the United States? Next stop: the ASCA annual conference in Philadelphia! Hope to see you there!
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