School Counselors

By: Cara Resnick

School counselors, some of the only people that we can go to at school. But, what do you have to do to become one? I talked to Mr. Chiacchiere, the 5th grade counselor to find out. So, what do you have to do to become a school counselor?

According to Mr. Chiacchiere, the first thing you have to do is acquire an undergraduate degree for almost anything (psychology, business, science, etc.) and then you have to acquire a masters degree in school counseling. But how did Mr. Chiacchiere work his way up to where he is today? Well he went on quite a journey. When Mr. Chiacchiere was working his masters degree, he was an instructional assistant, but the second he graduated he applied for counseling jobs. Mr. Chiacchiere's first job was a grades 1-8 school counselor as a long term substitute in the interboro school district. After working there for a year and a half he came to LMSD. Sadly for the half of a year he was at penn wynne we were still in the pandemic. Then he moved to our fellow LMSD middle school Bala Cynwyd and stayed there for half a year. Even though he loved LMSD he went back to the Interboro school district and worked at Interboro high school. Soon later he moved back to Bala Cynwyd middle school. He went on this wonderful journey just to get to where he is today. A 5th grade school counselor at our beloved Black Rock.

When I think of a school counselor I think of someone who talks to you when you are sad or upset. But, their true job is to work with people to help them manage issues. School counselors are more than they seem to be.