MASCA
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL COUNSELORS ASSOCIATION
MASCA congratulates Bob Bardwell
VOL. 49, NO. 5
JANUARY 2013
College and Career: The Timeline Changes By JENNIFER LISK, MASCA President
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BOB BARDWELL
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ob Bardwell, Past President of MASCA, has been elected to a top leadership position in the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Bob will serve as ASCA President-Elect starting in the fall. Best of luck, Bob, from your MASCA colleagues! ■
MASCA mourns loss of Paul Murphy
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ASCA mourns the passing of Paul Murphy, 90, a long-serving leader in MASCA and its affiliate, Greater Boston School Counselors Association. For many years, Paul served as president of GBSCA and as a member of the MASCA Governing Board and Conference Committee. Paul earned his bachelor’s degree from Saint Michael’s College in Vermont and master’s degree from Columbia University. For more than thirty years, he worked in the Cambridge School Department as a teacher and guidance counselor. “A wonderful and supportive friend who influenced the lives of many,” Paul will be greatly missed. Paul is survived by his wife of 58 years, eight children, and grandchildren. ■
n mid-November, I was fortunate to represent MASCA at a Connecting Activities conference sponsored by DESE. In addition to the wonderful conversations with a variety of professionals working with students connecting school and career, Gerald Chertavian, who chaired the Integrating College and Career Readiness task force, spoke about shifting the way we look at college and career. He talked about the changing nature of how and when people obtain their education. For many of us, we graduated high school, attended college immediately after, and then entered the work force. That is not happening at nearly the same frequency as it was in past years, and many people are working while earning their degree. As he put it, the approach is “earning something while you’re learning something.” The statistic he quoted of the average age of someone earning their bachelor’s degree — twenty-eight — speaks to how often this now occurs.
JENNIFER LISK We must continue to look at what our students need and help them develop the right path to achieve their goal. Those paths are now diverging more than ever before, and there may not be one right way to go. Interweaving school and career opportunities is not an easy task. There are often time constraints and other obstacles, but as counselors we can be an integral part of helping students find the right fit for a career and the education they need to get there. ■
Handling Traumatic Events: Recommended Links “Age-Related Reactions to a Traumatic Event” http://www.nctsnet.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/ age_related_reactions_to_a_traumatic_event.pdf Tips for Talking to Children and Youth After Traumatic Events http://www.samhsa.gov/MentalHealth/Tips_Talking_ to_Children_After_Disaster.pdf Children and Violence, Resources http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/child-and-adolescentmental-health/children-and-violence.shtml