By: Anahi Rodriguez
The school's foundation is fundamentally built upon the well being of the students. Which is why it falls upon our class counselors and as a senior, on none other than Ms. Aguilar. For the longest she has always created a welcoming environment for her students to be able to come in and talk or share whatever is on their mind. However, I feel as though we don't ask her enough about what's on her mind nor what kind of a person she really is. Which is why I made it my mission to find out more about our dear counselor.
Believe it or not, being a counselor was never on Ms. Aguilar’s agenda, she initially wanted to pursue science. She was fascinated with the anatomy and physiology within the human body. Which led to the field more specifically in forensic. She wanted to be able to actually learn about the human body through Unfortunately, her school didn't provide anatomy but biology so that introduced her to becoming a coroner. She states “I don't know what or I don't know why I was in that phase of forensics, but it intrigued me, the human body always has.” Which is crazy to think about, Ms Aguilar, a coroner… hmmm it just doesn't fit as much as her being the counselor she is now. Throughout high school she unfortunately strayed a bit away from her academics but who got her through it all was her own school counselor. Prior to high school, Ms Aguilar had a small idea of college only due to her parents' wants. She saw college as the necessary step and leaned towards being a school teacher but soon realized it was not the thing for her. She volunteered in primary schools as a teachers assistant and says that it was actually quite a lot for her to keep up with. “ it was a new realm of energy” she says and it just led to her disliking the field of working with little ones a lot. She then moved on to working with high school students and with their post secondary options and indeed up loving it. She loved that there was a diverse amount of responsibilities put out for her rather than just sticking to one thing and it made her realize that her and she says, “And then from there realized, like, I like the one on ones, I like the presentations in the classroom. I just like the different roles and responsibilities, and how it's just, it could vary every day.” which is what made her stumble upon counseling which was her right fit. She states that it all came down to the kind of person she is as well. She naturally is a very nurturing empathetic and loves organization which just continued to have her conclude that counseling was for her.
Ms. Aguilar not only provides a support system for her students here on campus but also to those around her. She states that being a counselor in a school setting also makes her one in her personal life with both friends and family. “People feel open to just vent a lot to me and they feel safe to which I don't mind but sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming.” Which is very understandable because after coming home from work, you expect to just be able to drop everything but unfortunately this isn't the case here. Which she says she doesn't mind, but it does take a toll on her as counseling the field she initially strayed away from. But inevitably, she continues to see counseling through a loving lens. Counseling will always be what she strays towards, it is her passion whether it was her first choice or not. “So like, even like, whether it's when I'm planning events here to when I'm planning events, like, at home or personally, if it's like, I need some set structure, and counseling just helps me out.”
Its her balance, and with that she has kept us balanced our last two years and led us to where we are now. So as a senior, I thank Ms. Aguilar for sticking with the class of 2023.