by Turner Russell

Last Monday night, AHS guidance counselors Craig Fredin and Jennifer Thurston presented their progress to the board members. Fredin explained that the counselors roles have changed “an awful lot” while talking about the different tasks that he and Thurston take on.

Fredin expressed that as high school counselors they use the American School Counseling Association as a guide. “We try to resolve things so they don’t turn into a disciplinary issue,” Fredin said. Fredin thinks the best thing that counselors can do is give students the support needed to be successful.

Fredin and Thurston each cover around half of the student body. Thurston spends more time on any “social and emotional” issues that students have, and Fredin spends more time on helping students with career planing.

“Last year we changed the number of credits needed to graduate, and I think it has worked well for our students. It’s helping them have a more attainable goal. The kids are doing really well, and our office is working really closely with the teachers to make sure their offering advanced classes,” said Fredin.  He added, “Teachers want to offer advanced classes. The curriculum is getting more and more vigorous. We are offering more and more classes.”

According to Fredin, there is sometimes around 80-90 students that need to be called into the guidance center to talk with a counselor about their grades. High school principal Heather McKay said, “There are a lot of additional interventions that happen along the way.” One of the ways that AHS students are kept accountable for their grades is through their seminar class. Fredin explained that the purpose of seminar at the high school is to develop a “student family,” and that each seminar advisor is asked to check the grades of the students in their class once a month.

Many AHS students dont use the guidance center very often, but there are some students that use it very frequently. Freshmen Rebekah Hallman and Miranda Chipman both say they haven’t used the guidance office more than once. Hallman said, “I don’t even know where it is.”

On the other hand, senior Brecklyn Carey said she will often talk to a guidance counselor if she is having problems with a class. Carey’s counselor is Fredin, but she will often talk to Thurston if Fredin is out of the office. “I also worked with her (Thurston) in the past with friend to friend mentoring,” Carey added.