Running Head: Career Counseling Session

Career Counseling Session

Kierston Beets
Kansas State University

Running Head: Career Counseling Session

This is first time I have met with this student. She is an AVID student and our school is
in our second year of AVID implementation. One job of a counselor when working with
AVID students is creating a 4-year plan and ensuring the students are taking rigorous
course work. I am working to meet that AVID essential with this student, as well as
doing a test group to implement more career and college counseling school wide. This
was right at the beginning of our session, which lasted in total about 40 minutes, and we
need to meet at least one more time. In the following session(s), I would like to finish
her plan of study, find out why she wants to be a vet, and look at options for universities.
I think the first standard I am addressing here is Kansas State Academic
Standard 2 Benchmark 1 grades 6-8 (2015). The student is working on a plan of study
and exploring her options to set goals for high school and beyond. The second standard
I feel am I working on with this student is Kansas State Career Standard 2 Benchmark 1
grades 6-8 (2015). Many of the knowledge-based indicators in this section are ones that
I have briefly touched on working with this student, but I want to continue to develop. I
want to talk to her about what would make her a good vet, what other career choices
are out there in case she finds something about being a vet she doesnt want to do,
what are her options for schools, etc. There is a lot of directions I can take a session like
this, but since she is only an 8th grader I just want to work on exploration.
I want this student, and many others, to feel as prepared for high school as
possible. It can be very scary to go into a sea of 1400 other students and not really have
a direction. I know it can be easy to get sucked into taking classes that friends are
taking or not really having a plan and just taking random classes that fit into the
schedule, but that is not what I want to happen. I want students to explore their options

Running Head: Career Counseling Session

and know what is out there for them to take, but I dont want them to take a class
because of their friends or because it fits into their schedule. I would love to take time
with all of my students and do similar activities, but with counselors numbers being so
high across the board it can be hard, but hopefully reaching a good amount of students
now will help the high school counselors later.
I think this was a good starting session and I hope it helps the student feel less
nervous about high school and gets them to start thinking about beyond high school. I
think this student was at a pretty good starting place and having this little extra will help.
Most of the students I have worked with so far have just lit up when I said we could
actually lay out a high school plan right now. I know there will be some that are freaked
out by that thought and I will have to take a different approach, but most of the students
I will be working with this year will probably not be that way. There is so much more I
would like to do with her, and many other students, but the time just does not exist. I
know that there are ways I can do more to reach students, I just need to do some
brainstorming.
For this session, and others similar to it, I think Life Span, Life Space is the best
theory. The most important reason for that is because it is developmental. Most middle
school students are hovering in between the growth and exploration stages. The growth
stage includes developing a beginning sense of self and a basic understanding of the
world-of-work (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013, p.50). The exploration stage involves a
greater sense of awareness and planning for the future with that awareness (Niles &
Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013, p.51). Self-concept is an important construct to look at with
students in this situation as well. They are in a phase of wanting to become

Running Head: Career Counseling Session

independent, but at the same time, they want to conform to their peers and be the
same. We have to work with students to stress the importance that not everyone has
the same skills and experiences really help to make up a person and the career they
can go into.

Running Head: Career Counseling Session

Kansas State Department of Education. (2015). Kansas curricular standards for school
counseling. Topeka, KS: Retrieved from
http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/CSAS/
Content%20Area%20(M-Z)/School
%20Counseling/Kansas%20Curricular
%20Standards%20for%20School
%20Counseling%20Final%20Rev111015.pdf
Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2013). Career development interventions in the 21st
century (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.