Jenny Lira Turner

Ms. Lira is a hardworking Intermediate School counselor, a spouse of a fellow teacher here at Parker, and a mother of two girls. She has been working at Parker for 12 years, and is always fun to be around. We hope you will find this interview as interesting as we did.

Ms. Lira grew up in Arlington, Texas. When she was 12 years old, she moved to a small town and went to a rural school. At her graduation, there were only 49 people. When Ms. Lira was younger, she didn’t really think about what profession she wanted to enter when she grew up, but she got some ideas from her parents. Her dad was an airline pilot and her mom was a nurse, so Ms. Lira decided she would like to have a job that involved being around other people.

As the Intermediate School Counselor, Ms. Lira helps kids who are worried or are feeling down. Ms. Lira works with students who have been at Parker for years, not only newly-arrived students. She said that to be good at her job, you need to have empathy, be a good listener, and be open to anything, all of which she does very well.

“Kids are often worried about being worried.”

As a counselor, Ms. Lira has a very interesting schedule. She comes to school at 8:00 am and leaves around 5:00 to 6:00 pm. Her hours need to be flexible because she has her own children. During her breaks, Ms. Lira tries to save time in case of unexpected visits from students. Her breaks are normally about twenty minutes. She has a lunch group every day, and needs to be available at all times to talk to teachers about how to best help students. At home, she and her husband, Mr. Turner, never talk about work. “One thing we don't do is talk about work, because if we did, it would be like work all the time,” she told us.

Ms. Lira has switched careers several times, but her jobs have all had one thing in common: they involve interacting with people. She was a flight attendant for American Airlines, which was inspired by her dad’s work as a pilot as well as by her mom’s work with others. Ms. Lira also worked several jobs in a hospital, including helping adults who were waiting for organ transplants and working with patients in psychiatric care. Additionally, Ms. Lira has experience working with children, most specifically with students on the autism spectrum.

This is Ms. Lira's first and only job at Parker. Her favorite part of working with kids is experiencing their energy and seeing things from their perspective. She says she learns more from students than they learn from her. Ms. Lira’s favorite Parker tradition is the bagpipes. She thought that their sound was a little irritating at first, but after a while she realized how pretty it is. From then on she loved the sound of bagpipes. Some of her other favorite things include reading books by Lynn Lyons and using her oil diffuser. Lynn Lyons is an author who writes books that help people with anxiety, how to handle pressure situations, and how to manage the challenges of daily life. Her oil diffuser is her favorite office decoration right now, but she hopes to acquire a painting of a girl coming out of a cage to symbolize becoming free of what’s holding you back. One of her favorite quotes is, “It’s okay to not be okay,” and posters of that wonderful message are in numerous parts of her room. She has two children: a three-year-old and a five-year-old. Sometimes, when Ms. Lira is not working, she thinks about living in the Caribbean and owning a sailboat so she can sail around with her friends.

“It’s okay to not be okay.”

It was wonderful to be able to talk with Ms. Lira. She is such a lovely person. It was fascinating to learn more about her personal life and the work she does in her job. Being a student counselor is a job with a lot of responsibilities, but Ms. Lira is very good at her job as a friend to the students and as someone kids can talk with when they need it. Because of our 43-minute interview, we know more about the things she does for the Parker community on a daily basis. We appreciate her giving us the time to get to know her, and she taught us a lot about her life that we didn’t know. We hope you feel the same.