There is perhaps no job more influential than working with students at a high school. Counselors can make or break many opportunities in high school. A good high school counselor will help you get all the required credits needed for graduation, but a great high school counselor will take the time to personally connect with students. Perhaps even editing a college essay or two … or three … or four. Jonathan Hulse was awarded “Best Smile” in Mrs. Vandavigate’s kindergarten class, and those pearly whites have served him well as he serves the students of Pleasant Grove High School. His older sister, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson, gave her political stamp of approval to add Jonny to our Hall of Fab 40 Fame.
Fully Booked A high school counselor’s job is great for someone with ADHD. Each day has some simple structure to it, a skeleton of what needs to get done, but the connective tissue of the day will be filled with mental health breakdowns, divorce, big wins and heartbreaks, an epic tragedy and a budding romance, fist fights and PDA, group presentations followed by tears in a bathroom stall, physics formulas that finally click, and a confiscated vape, lots of boisterous laughter and widespread bitter loneliness — and sometimes we even get a whole government elected before we finally break for lunch. High school is life in microcosm, compressed into a few short years and turned up to 11 — and I love it. In keeping with the book theme, I think I make a poor protagonist in my own story, but I have enjoyed becoming the wise old mentor archetype in the journeys of far better characters than myself.
Hero’s Journey A challenge was attending eight different schools in four different states by the end of high school. I learned that connection is intertwined with any level of meaningful success.
Daily Underscore Pink Floyd or Tom Waits.
Vital Title I wish I could say something more intellectual or edgy, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t “The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson.
Dream Storybook World I’d live in a Jane Austen world. I don’t need dragons or magic, just give me a bigger vocabulary and a world where everyone speaks politely, even when they are being rude.
Life Genre Comedic tragedy. All our lives eventually become tragedies, especially if you can’t find the humor in them.