Placement Description
High School – School Counseling Office
Intern or Field Placement
Responsibilities/Opportunities
Your experience will vary based on the semester you are with us… different things happen in the Counseling Department in the Fall vs the Spring. However, all field placement students will find themselves quickly embraced within our office “family.” As the site supervisor, I want to work with individual students to make this experience as meaningful as possible for them. I like to tailor the experience towards their interests and what they want to achieve. For example, I’ve had some field placement students work closely with our ELL population while others were interested in helping students with self-esteem or body-image issues. I expect my field placement students to be selfstarters and independent workers, to a degree. I’m happy to make resources available to them and direct them down the right path but they need to be steering their own ship!
Contact Information
- Contact Person: Matthew Kinman, School Counselor
- Phone: (540) 896-7081
- Email Address: mkinman@rockingham.k12.va.us
Read about students’ experiences at this site below:
Spring 2024 – Riley Grizzard
Broadway High School’s counseling department was an amazing experience for a field placement as someone who is seeking to be a school counselor. Being under the supervision of Matthew Kinman, while also being able to work alongside the other counselors and department staff, has created a well-rounded experience for me to learn and grow. The vision statement of Broadway High School is, “Striving to improve ourselves. Striving to improve our community,” and the mission statement is, “We are Broadway…We are learners because we explore and question. We are performers from our stages to our fields. We are a community because we respect and celebrate. We are diverse from our roots to our dreams. We are stewards because we plant and protect. We are leaders from our accountability to our courage. We are the future…We are Gobblers!” These statements encapsulate the idea of growth and applying strengths, which is how the students were treated in the counseling center, and how I was treated during my time at BHS.
At this site, I was able to engage in shadowing to see what the counselors do on a day-today schedule. While every single day can look different, the BHS counselors work with students on emotional wellbeing, academic success, and study/life skills. Specifically, counselors help with class scheduling, vocational/post-secondary planning, and helping students face struggles in their life. Furthermore, the counselors have small groups for students that cover an array of topics. At the BHS counseling center, I was able to experience different responsibilities. I was given the responsibilities of creating mental health memos, social media posts, and student support in the calm room. I was also given the opportunity to assist in class scheduling, as well as creating my own small group.
There are many positives to Broadway’s counseling department. Most importantly, I liked that I had many staff members to shadow and observe. It ensured that I can see how different counselors do their job, as well as how other staff members (secretary, registrar, etc.) and counselors work together as a team. The counseling center at Broadway is an extremely welcoming group of people! Also, because the counseling center consists of office spaces, I was placed in the calm room to do my work. By being in the calm room, I was exposed to students who may have needed to spend time in the calm room. This was an advantage as I was able to listen to students and hear how counselors handle different situations. I also found that working at BHS allowed me to be exposed to more of the post-secondary/vocational role of a school counselor, which I may not have been exposed to if I had been at an elementary school. I felt that I also had a lot of freedom to explore different areas of counseling, and the staff was supportive of any direction I wanted to go in (for me, this was working on small groups and executive functioning skills). Furthermore, I got to spend much of my time with the therapy dog, Ellie, who was there to help students (and staff) in need of extra support and cuddles!
For anyone who is interested in working in Broadway’s counseling department, it is important to know that much of the work you complete is proactive and individual. While my semester was filled with a lot of projects and experience in the counseling department, I had to be self-sufficient in completing the work individually. While this was not a disadvantage for me, it is something to be aware of if you are interested in a more collaborative/collective approach.
This field placement was very influential when learning about the different aspects of counseling. I noticed that the role of a high school counselor relies less on classroom lessons, but more on small group and individual sessions to discuss issues that meet a specific person’s needs. This allowed for the counselors to build very strong relationships with the students. I realized through this experience that, while I was originally interested in elementary school counseling, I am now more interested in the high school setting. During my time at BHS, I felt that I could build stronger relationships with the students because they are more mentally developed and we could talk about more advanced topics. I was able to have very engaging conversations with students this way, and led me to be more interested in high school counseling.
When being in the counseling psychology course, as well as being a student (and TA) in developmental psychology, I gained skills that I was able to carry with me into my site. Firstly, I learned about the ideas of active listening skills, genuineness, paraphrasing, and trust building in counseling psychology. I used this information in the calm room often. Active listening was a tool I used most, as I did not want to give too much advice without a counselor in the room to assist. However, by actively listening and paraphrasing, the students felt as though I cared and were more likely to trust me with information. In developmental psychology, I learned a lot about how an adolescent brain works, and how this affects student’s mindsets and emotional regulation. This was useful when understanding why students in the counseling center felt the way they did about situations. Additionally, I used this information when establishing my small group lessons.
For my contribution project, I established and executed a small group. This small group, consisting of ninth and tenth grade students, was ideal. They are more willing to learn about how to improve in high school since they still have over half their time in high school left. The group of students I worked with struggled in one or more classes, and it was atypical for these students. With this, I conducted small group lessons on executive functioning skills to assist them. My four lessons taught time management skills, organization skills, study skills, and emotional regulation, respectively. For each lesson, I created a powerpoint (so they would have visuals and I would cover all of the topics that I want). I also had interactive aspects including debunking study myths, creating a time management pie chart, backpack dumps, and self-assessments. I originally had six students in my small group, but there were days in which students were absent, so I never had all six students at a time. While this was a challenge, it also provided an opportunity for reviewing the previous lesson at the start of each session. The small group gave me more experience working in small groups, as well as getting to build interpersonal skills for myself and the other students.
My experience at Broadway High School’s counseling department has given me more perspective into the daily lives of counselors and the work counselors do that students do not typically see. I felt extremely supported by Matt and the rest of the staff to be able to accomplish all of the goals I set for myself at the site. I would recommend this site to anyone who thinks they want to be a school counselor. BHS helped me to discover that I have a high interest in high school counseling, and I think it could help give field placement students an opportunity to discover their interests within counseling.
Fall 2023 - Kelly Marshall
During field placement I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with the school counselors at Broadway High School. This has been the most valuable learning experience of my undergraduate studies and I will be able to take these lessons with me no matter where my future career takes me. Broadway's mission is to build well rounded and happy students who will be successful in the future and who are contributors to their community. The school counselors there truly care about their students well being and provide them with resources no matter what issues they may be struggling with. They have an open door policy which allows students to be in the counseling center whenever they need to and they work to communicate with both teachers and parents to ensure that all of the students' needs are met.
During my time there I made the Calm Room my home base. The Calm Room is a calming space with fidgets, art supplies, and comfy chairs that provides students with a place to go when they are overwhelmed. Students can use the room no questions asked but I noticed that oftentimes after students used the room they chose to speak with their school counselors about whatever they were going through. This is a great way that Broadway ensures their counselors are approachable because it can be difficult for a kid to feel safe when in distress. While in the calm room, I often was able to strike up conversations with students, help with homework, and sometimes we would just talk. This allowed me to practice some actual counseling and to gain insight into the struggles facing high schoolers today as well as helped me to build relationships with students.
I enjoyed working at my site, however it was not always easy. I often felt out of place and did not know what I was allowed to do. My supervisor encouraged me to take initiative which I appreciated but I definitely could have used some more guidance. I found it difficult to come up with projects I could do that were both meaningful and helpful. Despite this, I highly recommend Broadway to anyone interested in school counseling because I have never seen a school that has counselors so accessible to their students. The kids at this school are especially kind and respectful, and they truly appreciate the counselors there. One aspect of my internship that I really loved was helping students with their college essays and applications. It is such an exciting time for students and through reading essays I was given a lot of insight into who they are. Many of the students I worked with had parents who did not go to college so being a mentor and resource for them meant a lot to me. This showed me that I would enjoy not only the counseling and mental health parts of school counseling but also the academic and career planning responsibilities. Talking to students about their dreams and goals always brightened my day.
A reason I wanted to become a school counselor is because they really get to take care of the needs of the whole student. Academics can affect mental health and vice versa as well as sports, family troubles, and other circumstances. Acting as an advocate for the student and when needed bringing in teachers, coaches, and parents can really have an impact on a child. School counselors also have the opportunity to provide resources based on the needs of the school and the community. Another reason I have chosen school counseling is because of the reach I could have. Not all kids have access to mental health counseling, or academic/career coaches. In a school I would be able to reach each kid at the school to provide them with these opportunities despite their financial status. I also know that not all kids have positive adults in their lives and I could be that for them.
One of the biggest learning experiences at my site was experiencing an area that is more rural and less wealthy than where I grew up. Nearly all my friends in high school went to college afterward and it was never even a question for me. Many of the kids at my site will attend Massanutten Technical College, or go into various trades and jobs. I also had several students who worked part time jobs, helped their parents with their businesses, or took care of their younger siblings on top of their school work. This was eye-opening and broadened my perspective of the world. High school is tough for everyone but added responsibilities and financial strains can increase this. As a future counselor I want to be sure to be sensitive to these issues and take them into consideration when advising my students.
In both my psychology and human resources studies I have learned valuable information that I was able to implement at my site. My counseling psychology taught me how to have effective and insightful conversations with students as well as how to keep my composure in tough situations. I have also applied knowledge from social psychology to teach students about positive relationships and to build my own relationships with both staff and students. In my contribution project, I utilized knowledge from my cognitive psychology course to create effective interventions for struggling students. I also used knowledge from my HRD classes. We learn a lot about training, development and learning. I used my knowledge from learning in adulthood to adapt learning methods to teenagers and give them the tools needed. My contribution project was difficult but very rewarding. I was nervous to do a small group of students because I was not sure how interested students would be. Unfortunately, I was correct and no students showed up to the study group despite me discussing it with them individually beforehand. I ended up providing the counselors with the materials I had created so that they could use them with students individually. This whole process was disappointing but taught me to persevere and find other ways to complete my project. I did have a chance to do some study help with students who came to the calm room to work on homework or who confided in me that they were feeling overwhelmed. I will use this experience in the future to find ways to engage students that they will actually want to participate in.
Overall, this experience reinforced my desire to be a school counselor and showed me what it is actually like. I had hard days and easy days and had to confront my own weaknesses, strengths and privileges. I learned more about myself than anything else and I will be sure to carry these lessons into my future no matter where I end up. The counselors at Broadway High School are truly amazing people and they were always available to help me out. This site showed me what school counseling can be and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to intern there.
Spring 2022 – Kayla OPrandy
Broadway High School Counseling Center’s mission statement: “We are many, preparing each one to impact the most, for the benefit of all. School counselors, as professional school advocates, will provide a comprehensive, developmental counseling program to address the academic, career, and personal/social needs of all students. In unison with the students, staff, parents, and community members, the school counselor will facilitate a positive, supportive, and culturally sensitive program that will ensure a school community that is safe, healthy, and nurturing environment for all.”
At Broadway High school, they abide by this mission statement in their everyday duties. The counselors oversee all the students for various reasons, so they are always quite busy. They have four counselors, a career coach, and a secretary. Each member of the office plays an important role at the school, and they are always striving to create a positive and supportive environment for the students. They have a room that has coloring papers, beanbags, clouds in the lights, and fidget toys. This office is mainly where the interns stay but it is known as their calm room. They created this room for the students who are struggling with anxiety, stressful school day, etc., and they are able to freely come to the room and take a moment to relax and breathe before continuing with their day. The counseling office is very welcoming to the students, and they create that environment for them to feel comfortable and safe.
I worked under Matthew Kinman who is one of the counselors in the office. He would give us tasks to complete and occasionally allow us to sit in on meetings. He had us work on different assignments throughout the semester for the students, but it was up to us to figure out what specifically to do. We helped plan the Fifth Grader Leadership Conference which included making leadership sheets, organizing the activities of the day, being there to help facilitate, and support the students who were there. After the conference we worked on a college preparation guide for the seniors. We helped answer any questions they had about college including academics, food, and living in the dorms. Then he had us work on a healthy relationships module to present to the students during lunch. We created a presentation board and flyers to indicate what a healthy relationship looks like as well as red flags to look out for. After that we worked on a Mental Health Module for them to present to students throughout next semester. This includes activities and literacy on Mental Health, as well as guides for the teachers to help the students.
Something I learned while at Broadway’s Counseling center is that no student is the same and you have to approach each student accordingly. This was my first time being in a school counseling environment, so I learned a lot by observing. Broadway is a very diverse area and students come from different home lives. A lot of students also struggle with bullying and harassment for their gender identities. Something I learned was how to approach those situations. I haven’t been in high school in years, so looking from an outside perspective was new to me and allowed me observe how to guide those conversations. High School can be a time where people thrive but also struggle, so learning how to approach those situations and apply it to what I have learned in the psychology field was very interesting.
Each semester at Broadway is truly different then any others. There was always something going on, but a lot of the modules and activities we planned were up to us. Our supervisor would help when we asked but for the most part, we worked very independently. The office itself is like one big family so I always felt comfortable going to any of the other counselors. The family dynamic of the office was very welcoming and inclusive and really made my time enjoyable at Broadway. I never hesitated to ask any of the counselors for help. Each day they would stop by and chat with us about what was going on, and it really felt like they cared. That type of environment made it so easy to want to continue coming back and I never dreaded it. Something else that I really enjoyed was how independent we were able to be at Broadway because we really could use the time to work on modules that would help us learn and grow as well. For the projects, our supervisor would help guide us with the overall picture of what was wanted, but the creativity and direction of the idea was up to us. It was hard at times when there was down time where we had nothing to specifically do, but in those situations, I would just try and ask other counselors more about their duties to understand the role of a school counselor.
Working at Broadway Highschool has shown me that I do want to become a school counselor. I really enjoyed my time there and I took the time to truly be present in the moment to decide if this was the career I wanted for the rest of my life. Something that I really enjoyed is how no day is the same. Everyday there are new things happening and the counselors are constantly on their feet, and that is something I want in a future career. I don’t want to just have a 9-5 job where I do the same things every day. Being at Broadway showed me that school counselors really do a lot for the students and each day is different, so I am overall pleased with my experience. I will say, working here you definitely need to be creative with ideas for the students and really take the time to take in the office and to focus on things that interest you. There is a lot of freedom in the different modules we were able to create, so definitely doing things that interested us really helped make our time at Broadway useful.
Spring 2022 – Marie Larounis
I completed my introductory field work experience at Broadway High School, in which I worked under the supervision of Mathew Kinman. Mr. Kinman is the school counseling director at Broadway High School. Within the counseling office, there are three counselors, one career advisor, and one registrar. Overall, my fieldwork partner, Kayla, and I never worked solely with Mr. Kinman; we collaborated with the entire office. Truthfully, the counseling office at Broadway High School is that of a family, in which the environment is positive and synergic.
The vision statement in the counseling office of Broadway High School is as follows, “We are many, preparing each one to impact the most, for the benefit of all” (Rockingham County Public Schools). In addition, the overall mission statement for Broadway High School is: “We, the Broadway Gobblers, with the support of each other, are learning to be curious explorers and fearless creators, risk takers and problem solvers, life-long learners and active collaborators, kind neighbors and responsible citizens. We respect each person. We act to keep each other safe. We each contribute to the success of the group through the accountability of the individual. We understand that our work at Broadway High School equips us to impact the world” (Rockingham County Public Schools). These mission statements state the importance of preparation for the future in regard to learning and collaborating. To note, neither the vision statement nor the mission statement emphasize present academic grades, but rather being knowledgeable citizens for the future.
As touched upon in my problem solving paper, the staff within the counseling office at Broadway High School go beyond the term of ‘counselor.’ The counselors within the office work tirelessly to provide the best service possible for their students, and to prepare them for the future. Counselors are required to clinically support, academically advise, notice potential harm, guide towards college, among so many other important tasks. What makes the counseling office unlike any other is the diversity of problems that arise and are dealt with professionally by counselors. The counseling office is incredibly versatile in its approach towards students, as some students might enter the office with clinical issues, and others might enter with academic dilemmas. Students are able to make appointments with counselors through email, or are allowed to walk in when they need time to talk. In addition, there is a room within the counseling office named the “calm room,” in which students can enter at any point throughout the day in order to calm themselves, and enter a safe space without judgment.
While I was not able to spend much time with students in counseling sessions, I was able to see a portion of the work that counselors do behind-the-scenes in order to keep the office running smoothly. Whether it be completing paperwork, creating informative projects, or helping to facilitate events, Kayla and I worked with a variety of tasks throughout our time at Broadway High School. If I were to complete my field work experience again, I would hope to spend more time one-on-one with students. My assumption is that many students most likely feel safer in a room solely with Mr. Kinman, rather than having spectators, but I would like to experience the counseling atmosphere in regards to the clinical aspects.
Truthfully, I hope to pursue psychological research in my doctoral pursuit, so this experience in counseling provided a new outlook on the psychology world for me. I enjoy research because it provides tangible numbers and data that can provide answers to psychological questions. Counseling, as I have learned, is much less tangible, and is very interpretive. Counseling provides a large differential between sessions, which I must admit, I learned that I did not enjoy as much as research. My course in counseling at JMU though, provided assistance in the few counseling sessions that I was able to participate in. The importance of hte ability to listen rather than to give advice was something that I was prepared for, but did not expect to be so difficult. I have a tendency to want to help people, so not being able to provide a solution for students was a challenge.
Kayla and I were able to do a variety of tasks for the counseling office. We helped to facilitate a conference for fifth grade students, in which they are encouraged to become leaders in their community and school. In addition, Kayla and I created a presentation about healthy relationships as a teenager, as were were told by Mr. Kinman that healthy relationships were one of the more dire problems that comes into the counseling office. Due to the location of Broadway High School, there is often an outlook of traditionalism within relationships, which can cause elements of abuse and mistreatment. Additionally, Kayla and I were able to bring in students that might have failed a course over the term in order to check in and see what services were could provide to them, if necessary. Kayla and I also revamped many of the outdated informative sheets that were within the counseling office so that more students would find them helpful.
As I mentioned previously, I thoroughly enjoyed how welcoming the Broadway High School community was, especially the counseling office. At every event, we were invited with the staff to help interpret the behind-the- scenes look of what a high school really looks like. Every time Kayla and I enter the office, we are greeted with warm faces, and staff seem to be excited that we are there to help. Truthfully, just being able to talk to Mr. Kinman was a pleasure, as he created insight on what his career truly looks like, and gave us the inside details of what being a counselor is really like on an everyday basis. It is evident that Mr. Kinman and the rest of the Broadway High School counseling office are passionate about what they do, and truly want to help all students to create a bright future for them.
