MASCA
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL COUNSELORS ASSOCIATION
Silver and Gold
VOL. 47, NO. 7
Preparing for College and Career through Global Awareness
By JENNIFER LISK MASCA VP Secondary
By DONNA BROWN MASCA Executive Director
Y
JENNIFER LISK “Make new friends, but keep the old / One is silver and the other gold.” For any of you who were a Girl Scout, this may bring back memories of sitting around a campfire. As I was contemplating what to write for this edition of the Counselor’s Notebook, this song popped into my head. To me, this is MASCA. As we approach MASCA’s 50th Birthday Celebration, it is both critically important to the profession and incredibly interesting to hear about the history of MASCA and to see the work that those before us have done. Without them, we would not be where we are today. On the other hand, it is the re-energizing that comes with different people joining the organization and bringing new ideas and perspectives that keeps us going. I encourage you to bring this same perspective to the spring conference and any other professional event you attend. Seek out those you know to reconnect and those who always have words of wisdom for you. Then step outside your comfort zone. Talk to someone new, whether it is another counselor or a graduate student or a presenter or an exhibitor. You never know what you will learn. Happy Birthday, MASCA! Here’s to another fifty years of proudly representing our profession. ■
MARCH 2011
ears ago, I had a supervisor who stated unequivocally that “the Guidance Department is the conscience of the school.” I remember thinking that at best this was hyperbole; at worst he was buttering us up to take responsibility for something that had happened. Neither was the case, and over the years I have come to believe his statement completely. It’s easy to forget this when we are buried in last minute college recommendations or up to our ears in schedule changes, but it’s true. We advocate for our students; we try to guarantee that everyone “plays fair”; we speak for those without a voice; we organize coat drives and food drives and a myriad of ways to help kids. And all the while, we encourage academic and social success, promote college and career readiness, and create ways to help students become positive,
50
YEARS
1961
2011
productive citizens. Whew! In January, I made my annual pilgrimage to New York to the United Nations for the Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN) conference. This year’s theme, “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Teaching for Action,” provided much to think about. In our packets was a wallet-sized card that summarized the goals and the statement that “the 192 Member States (all our countries) of the United Nations have promised to achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.” On the back of the card, the eight goals were listed: ERADICATE Extreme Poverty and Hunger; ACHIEVE Universal Primary Education; PROMOTE Gender Equality and Empower Women; REDUCE Child Mortality; IMPROVE Maternal Health; COMBAT HIV/AIDS, Malaria (continued on page 4)
GOLDEN PAST . . . PLATINUM FUTURE
MASCA Annual Spring Conference and MASCA 50th Birthday Celebration
Crowne Plaza Boston North Shore, Danvers April 10 -12, 2011 Registration form can be found on page 8.