#NSCW2025

Today I'm grateful to share a virtual sweet ...

sugar "bookies," just in time for NSCW2025.

I'm so amazed by the culinary skills of my friend, Brandie Lorenz, who created these for tomorrow's FISDCares Coffee and Collaboration. I'm excited to sponsor these treats for our amazing volunteers.

So what is NSCW anyway?

It's a week set aside every February for school counselors

to celebrate their calling, advocate for their profession, and

sharing all of the ways in which they help others thrive.

Here's a peek of my FB posts into this beautiful opportunity.

It's Day 2 of NSCW and I'm reflecting on all of the amazing opportunities I was given to shape the hearts and minds of our youngest leaders, all the while holding their hearts and helping them learn to self-regulate.

Whether I was in counseling classes wearing a chicken hat, greeting at the door strumming my ukulele, meeting friends one-on-one on the floor, facilitating social stations and service projects, or mentoring a counselor-in-training (Go Emma!), each and every interaction nourished my soul and made me want to love more.

These superheroes taught me so much year by year.

And now that I'm fully retired from the schoolhouse, my greatest joy is to watch these young people shine while I mentor other school counselors who get to still be in the field helping our future thrive!

Day 3 of NSCW and it's also World Read-Aloud Day! If you're still searching for a strong way to pique a student's curiosity about the book you're about to read, look no further because I found the answer waiting for me when I first arrived at Westwood in 2001 to this adorable little harp seal (Seymour!) with those beautiful eyes and lashes staring at me.

It was love at first sight and I learned very quickly about the power of a puppet, my ticket to engagement. Students will tell a puppet things they won't share with anyone else and they love to play with them like they're ... well ... kids again! Our puppets made us laugh, comforted us, and made everything seem like it'd be okay.

And you know what they say about the family that plays together, right? So today, shoutout to those sidekick puppets who help make our calling as school counselors refreshing, silly, empowering, playful, and a whole lot of fun.

Soon, I'll be jumping on a call with Trish, an incredible school counselor in Wisconsin, to plan our session for March 6 in Milwaukee. I cannot wait to co-present with her at Alverno College.