New and valuable to our school is Mr. Best, our school psychologist. Mr. Best. Best had always been in the area as he grew up going to Crestwood and had lived in Reminderville as he just recently moved into Aurora. He is a family man as he is married and has two younger kids.

When Mr. Best went to community college for business but then didn't know what to do with a business associate since it was so broad. Growing up he would play cards a lot with his family. In school, he had some coursework in psychology behavior. He ended up being intrigued by the psychological aspect of cards as he began to be able to read his family after playing cards with them so much and was able to predict their moves. He ended up finding himself at Right State University in Dayton to get his undergraduate in psychology.

Best wanted to get involved with psychology in a school once he realized he couldn't do much with an undergraduate degree. Another push towards this was that his dad, who was a teacher/counselor/principal. Best would often talk to his dad about his options. After talking so much his dad encouraged him to be a school psychologist. He was a big advocate for human potential, he believed if you work hard and commit it'll pay off, and he wanted to help and support students to help them achieve this.

 Best had chosen Aurora because as I mentioned before, he had lived in the area for so long, went to Crestwood growing up, and then even moved closer. He was also very impressed by Auroras' culture. When Mr. Best met Ms. Menta, the principal at Craddock talked about a productive struggle that really stuck with him. He mentions how the struggle isn’t always seen as not a good thing and as a parent it’s hard to see his kids go through struggles, “...myself included…” He understands where students and parents come from and is a very relatable person. Not only was this relatable but it was inspiring to him. He sees that struggle can be a good thing to help growth, going off of that he likes how Aurora focuses on the process and growth and not just the outcome. 

Best had expanded upon the similarities between his position compared to a counselor. Both our here to help students in any possible way. However, our guidance counslers are more here to help with our future, help with college, ect. Best on the other hand, helps with event right now. If your having a panic attack he is the man to see. if your feeling stressed about all your work, Best is the one to talk too. I feel like most people, including myself, arent’t very aware of this but if people were, this would and will benefit so many. Best hopes to support all students across the board.