HOPE – The school guidance counselor corps of the Hope Public Schools has brought more than two centuries of public education experience to aid the students of the HPS which will be recognized during National School Counseling Week, Feb. 1-5.
\r\nHope Mayor Don Still declared the week of Feb. 1-5 as Arkansas Public Schools Counselor Week in Hope to salute HPS counselors Varonica Kennedy, Kayla Jones (career coach), Hope High School; Joyce Smith, Yerger Middle School; Marilyn Marks, Hope Academy of Public Service; Christi Sullivan, Beryl Henry Elementary School; and Shauntelle Jarvis and Paige Bobo, Clinton Primary School.\r\n
\r\nThe proclamation notes the active commitment of school counselors to help students explore their potential and consider their future while working with teachers and other educators to help students set realistic goals for that journey.\r\n
\r\n“Comprehensive developmental school counseling programs are considered an integral part of the educational process that enables all students to achieve success in school,” the proclamation states.\r\n
\r\nAmong the seven counselor positions on the five main campuses of the HPS there is a total of 230 years of educational service experience. Of that total, there are 84 years of experience in counseling services specifically. The difference marks the importance of a background in public school classrooms for the HPS counselors.\r\n
\r\nPaige Bobo, one of two counselors at Clinton Primary School, has been an educator in the HPS for 30 years. A graduate of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia with a BSE degree and East Texas State University with an MSE degree, Bobo taught at Beryl Henry Elementary School and second grade at CPS before taking on the counseling role at CPS for the past 23 years.\r\n
\r\nShauntelle Jarvis, also a counselor at Clinton Primary, is a Hope native and 1994 HHS graduate. She taught second grade at CPS for 10 years before joining the counseling office at CPS for the past six years. Jarvis took both BSE and MSE degrees from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia.\r\n
\r\n“School counselors work with all students to remove barriers to learning by addressing students’ academic concerns, postsecondary options and social/emotional skills,” American School Counselor Association Executive Director Jill Cook said. “School counseling programs help to increase student achievement and provide a much-needed resource for students, parents, teachers and administrators. School counselors are integral to student success.”\r\n
