Shawnee High School names counselor Darren Welsh the Educational Services Professional of the Year
By Krista Cerminaro
Darren Welsh isn’t just a school counselor at Shawnee High School — he’s the head coach for girls winter and spring track, and the boys soccer team assistant coach.
Welsh, however, recently took on an even bigger title: Shawnee’s Educational Services Professional of the Year. Welsh couldn’t believe it — literally.
When Shawnee Principal Matthew Campbell announced the honor at a pep rally, Welsh thought he was being pranked.
“At first, I thought it was a joke,” he laughed. “It didn’t really set in until I saw my family.”
Welsh has a wide range of responsibilities as a school counselor at Shawnee — from helping seniors with letters of recommendation or with college applications, to making sure juniors are taking their entrance tests such as SATs or ACTs, preparing for tech school, the military or the workforce, to talking to sophomores about potential future careers, to simply welcoming freshmen to the school and encouraging them to get involved — and much more.
But, with both coaching and counseling, Welsh said the main factor that comes into play is motivation.
“I always think back to when I was in high school — unfortunately, I needed motivation, so my guidance counselor was always calling me down to give me those motivational talks,” said Welsh, who was influenced by his own counselor to pursue a career in school counseling. “And, I remember getting called down, and walking into her office and saying, ‘why’d you call me down? I did really well this marking period.’ And she’s like, ‘I know, that’s why I’m calling you down — to say congratulations.”
Welsh, whose been counseling since 2002, said he tries to incorporate as much positive reinforcement as he can.
“I do like to call down straight-A students and just say ‘hey, congratulations, good job.’ That, unfortunately, is like a luxury — there’s lots of students we have that have straight A’s, but you’re focusing a lot on the students who aren’t doing well, because you want to make sure everything’s OK,” Welsh explained. “If I do see them in the hallway, though, I will [say] ‘hey, good job on your report card!’ I know it’s a little more informal, but just hearing it is very positive.”
Welsh also said it’s his job to motivate students who may be getting lower grades, and encouraging them to do their homework, put in more effort, or just make sure they don’t have regrets in the future when it comes to their academics.
Welsh has an open-door policy in his office, and said his department does a good job in being available to students. While the students all eat lunch at the same time, his department, as well as the administrators, do not. Instead, they’re available for students to pop in and out as needed, or make appointments to meet with counselors.
“That’s really important, because they should feel welcomed,” said Welsh.
Welsh, who also works graduation each year, said that seeing the students he worked with graduate is a “very pleasant” reward.
But, the most rewarding aspect of all are the “thank you’s” that come in the end.
Welsh told a story of when he once saw a former student he worked with out in the community, she made it a point to thank him for all of his help.
“She was like, ‘I never go a chance to thank you for everything that you did for me,’ and that to me is like, OK — you know you got through to someone. You know that you helped someone,” Welsh explained.
“Just hearing the words ‘thank you’ is probably the most rewarding thing,” said Welsh. “Because usually, there’s a lot behind that ‘thank you.’”
While Welsh is honored to be recognized as the Educational Services Professional of the year — which he explains as an award equivalent to Teacher of the Year, but to show appreciation for for certified staff that aren’t teachers — anyone in his department would have deserved it.
“Everyone does such a great job here, so to be recognized as the best of the year, I mean that’s huge,” Welsh, who described his department as a “little family,” said. “There’s just a lot of great people here, so that definitely motivates you — on a cold day in January — to come into work. Knowing that you’ve got great staff to work with. And the kids are obviously a motivation as well — that’s what you’re here for. You couple those two things together and it makes it worthwhile.”
