Coffee Cast
Ep. 7: School Counselors and the Heart of Education with Krisi Lain and Rick Larson
Ever wonder what it's like to shape the future, one student at a time? Krisi Lain and Rick Larson, seasoned school counselors from the St. Cloud Area School District, join us to weave a tale of their life's work. Their stories capture the heart of education and the art of guiding young minds through the labyrinth of academic and social challenges. Their conversation is a treasure trove of wisdom for any educator, shedding light on the pivotal roles counselors play within the school ecosystem.
High school graduations are more than just a ceremony. This episode takes you behind the scenes, revealing the emotional weight of milestones, and the jubilation that comes when barriers are broken, especially for those stepping across the stage as the first in their family. From impromptu graduation dancing to their educational experiences, Krisi and Rick discuss the challenges and rewards of their careers, offering heartfelt advice for those walking the path of education. Their reflections on the evolving nature of schools serve as a reminder of the unwavering commitment required to support a diverse student body. Join us for an episode that celebrates the journey, honors the educators, and inspires the next generation of school counselors.
Have a great podcast idea? Submit your idea to communications@isd742.org
Subscribe and thanks for listening!
Ever wonder what it's like to shape the future, one student at a time? Krisi Lain and Rick Larson, seasoned school counselors from the St. Cloud Area School District, join us to weave a tale of their life's work. Their stories capture the heart of education and the art of guiding young minds through the labyrinth of academic and social challenges. Their conversation is a treasure trove of wisdom for any educator, shedding light on the pivotal roles counselors play within the school ecosystem.
High school graduations are more than just a ceremony. This episode takes you behind the scenes, revealing the emotional weight of milestones, and the jubilation that comes when barriers are broken, especially for those stepping across the stage as the first in their family. From impromptu graduation dancing to their educational experiences, Krisi and Rick discuss the challenges and rewards of their careers, offering heartfelt advice for those walking the path of education. Their reflections on the evolving nature of schools serve as a reminder of the unwavering commitment required to support a diverse student body. Join us for an episode that celebrates the journey, honors the educators, and inspires the next generation of school counselors.
Have a great podcast idea? Submit your idea to communications@isd742.org
Subscribe and thanks for listening!
The 742 CoffeeCast is your ultimate destination for insightful conversations, thought-provoking ideas and innovative strategies in St Cloud Area School District. Your host is Director of Community Engagement and Communications, tammy DeLand. Grab a cup of coffee and join us. Hello and welcome to CoffeeCast. I'm so excited you're both here today. We have Chrissy Lane and Rick Larson, who are veteran school counselors Extraordinary, I might say, and I'm just going to let each of you introduce yourselves and talk about, like, how long you've been in the district. You've been doing this work and kind of riding the 742 waves.
Speaker 3:You're the most veteran. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And I think veteran is another word for old. So, yes, that is true, not quite, not quite. Yeah Well, I've been in the district about 35 years. In fact, this is my last year I am actually retiring, but I started back out in 1989 at ALC. I was there for 10 years and then I have been at Tech ever since, which is where I met you Exactly, I know. I know Such good friendships. That's it.
Speaker 3:And I so for myself. This was my first school counseling job, apollo. Wow, I got the job in 1999 as I was finishing up my master's at St Cloud State, and I have been there ever since. So yeah, 25 years going at Apollo High School and it's unbelievable. It doesn't seem like that long. So yeah, 25 years going at Apollo High School and it's unbelievable. It doesn't seem like that long. But then you think about all the people that have come and gone and staff and all those kinds of things, all those graduates.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's pretty amazing, yeah, and have 20-year-old reunion classes. I've had this the last couple of years Like, hey, what would you think about coming to our? And it's like what you graduated 20 years ago.
Speaker 1:It's a little humbling, isn't it Rick?
Speaker 3:It's very humbling, and I need more things to make me humble.
Speaker 1:Bring you a lot. There's that, so your entire career at Apollo.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:And so did you. Did I miss this?
Speaker 1:How many years at ALC and then how many at tech, 10 at ALC, and then 25 at tech Amazing, and I tell you I loved all both places.
Speaker 2:They were just amazing and taught me so much. You guys are amazing.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, the first thing I want to talk about may seem like what. You're going to wonder why I'm asking this question, but the question is what does a school counselor do? Believe it or not? People wonder.
Speaker 3:Exactly what our program trained us to do, right, Chrissy. Exactly what the master's program, those classes, Well maybe not, maybe not.
Speaker 2:I think a better thing to say is what does a school counselor not do? And that, I think, is what is so fun about our job is just all the different duties and being able to see kids in so many different lights, I think, from academic to college and career, to social, emotional.
Speaker 1:Maybe a better question is what's your average day look like? What do you do in a day?
Speaker 3:When I first got into it and Tony Back is a great mentor for me when I first got to Apollo and she just retired not too long ago. But she told me right away at the high school level you wear so many hats. At first I'm like I don't know what that means. But then I was like, oh OK, I get it.
Speaker 3:There's never a typical day, there's a typical time of year, quite a bit, because it just depends like the start of the year. It's all about scheduling, it's all about getting kids orientated, it's all all those kinds of things. Then there's testing season. That gets in there and you know what's going to be happening when, when that's happening in your time. But you, you just really you never know what's going to be coming to your door or what you're going to see in the hallway or whatever, and what teachers are referring a student down for whatever's going on that day. It's just, it's awesome. But sometimes I like to plan a day to where it's like this is what I want to get done today. Right, how's that work out for you? Once in a while it happens that way. But no, you just need with where, where the needs are, and that's kind of what happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a. That's a great way to put it because, again, we have our duties and then we have what the needs are of that day with those students. And I think counselors are unique because, yes, we're part of the teacher bargaining unit and such, and yet the teachers sometimes see us as aligning more with administration. So I think we're really but we're not exactly, but I but I think we're like a liaison between teachers, between administrators, between teachers between administrators. We work so closely with parents, with students, with community members.
Speaker 1:I just think it's such a unique role that I think is so different than others. I'll lead you a little bit on this one. I know that I've had conversations before, talking with parents, for example, describing what you're doing, mentioning scheduling of classes, like shocks some people what that's what a guidance counselor does there, and the answer is yes. What you said, chrissy, all of the above, it is responding to the immediate need of the kid on a given day, as well as, oh, you have to graduate from high school. It's all of those things, and I think that's what's really important for listeners is to get a good idea of just how both wide and deep those job duties are. And, rick, you mentioned a lot of it is seasonal. So hey, it's May.
Speaker 3:What's going on? Oh my, nothing really. I'm kind of bored. Kind of bored with May. Right, it's such an exciting time in May.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of things going on of course, with the right now, the present day, and getting these seniors where they need to be and finishing strong. But we also have one foot into next year too, because we're doing a lot of figuring out schedules for next year how that master's going to work, getting new students enrolled and just looking at, okay, how's this going to be, having orientation nights going on and meeting with those eighth grade families, and that kind of stuff. So, and AP testing is going on right now. So there's a good couple of weeks of that Scholarship program.
Speaker 3:How about the scholarship and awards night at both schools, which for me, I am so grateful that I get to have that as one of my duties, because every counselor we split it up too there's ones in charge of the scholarship night, one's in charge of act teacher, one's in charge of ap testing, and sure you know all those different things too that are in our umbrella that well, you've got to have one go-to person for those things, and I mean the honor of working with community members and families. There's so many reasons for all these scholarships that come about that people want to support and generously support our students in our district and it's so awesome to have those conversations. Whether it's a family that has a family member die and wants to make sure that they remember them in a powerful way that's going to support students or businesses are like hey, we want to give back.
Speaker 3:I just love that part of that whole.
Speaker 1:I've been to those scholarship nights and there's smiles and there are tears. It is powerful, it is it really?
Speaker 3:is. It totally is, and it's so awesome. And I remember getting a scholarship when I was in high school. I know it's hard to imagine, but I was able to attend the scholarship night at my high school at the time. Well, I'm going to school, and but I remember distinctly that it felt like for me I don't know if this is the right term, but I was. I wanted to make sure my parents were proud of me as I was going on to college, but I was on the hook for this organization or this individual that gave the scholarship. I need to be doing well in college for them too, so it's powerful in that way too, and so I always remember that when kids are getting these scholarships and using them to make school possible.
Speaker 1:Chrissy, you've seen a lot of graduates. Oh my gosh, Already I don't even know.
Speaker 2:Do the math.
Speaker 3:I'm not a math major Do the math.
Speaker 2:I said we didn't have to do math, I know.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I lie. What is it like to see that one? I know Sometimes I lie. What is it like to see that one? And you've had hundreds and hundreds of students, but I know that this happens. So what is it like to have your eye on that ninth grader and see them cross that stage Come May? Can you describe it?
Speaker 2:It is amazing just to see the girls, because they come in as ninth graders either from South or from some of the other surrounding schools and they're so young, I mean, they look like babies that first year and we kind of have to teach again how to do school within the high school. But also, you know, just for them to know that every single class that you are in counts for your graduation. It's very different than what middle school and elementary, what they're used to.
Speaker 1:New ballgame.
Speaker 2:Exactly that. If you fail a class, that not necessarily just move on. Once you fail a class, then you have to make that class up. So it's either you retake it if you're a senior or you go to night school, do credit recovery, all of that. So I think that's probably the biggest transition for our ninth graders is really seeing the seriousness of their education and how you know them. Going to class and doing their work is going to affect that diploma.
Speaker 1:So once they cross that stage, then four years later we're talking celebration, right? Oh my God, the high fives are real.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is like night and day and I don't know about you, Rick, but you just get so close to your students. Oftentimes we call them our kids, you know, because we do get to follow them 10th through 12th grade, since we have a ninth grade counselor the last couple of years and it's just pretty darn amazing.
Speaker 1:It sounds like after all these years, high school graduation day is still a pretty big highlight. It is, it's huge.
Speaker 3:It's yeah, all those kids and all those relationships and what, what it took for the students to get there. And there's, I mean, you see, the ones with the. They got the red, white and blue cords and they got the gold cords and things like that. And then some, though, that really stick with you on, like how you got to this day and how proud that family is with what you had going on. That, for me, is the most like Wow, that just yeah, giving them that high five, that nothing feels better.
Speaker 2:The first generation graduates.
Speaker 3:You bet.
Speaker 1:It's amazing, rick, I have to say that I remember an Apollo graduation. Tell me, I didn't dream this up, because I have a really strong memory of you being on that stage, like playing some rock music. Oh, did I make that up.
Speaker 3:What there's? There's been a few. I mean, I had the honor of being able to be a speaker for graduation.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was your speaker, and so there was that.
Speaker 3:So I don't know if that was that one. Tammy, I decided to like go with this theme of dance. Like nobody's watching, that's what I did. So I gave them an example and so I pulled out all my dance moves. I queued up a song. Nobody else knew that I was going to do it, besides the sound guy. And this year was at it was at Hollenbeck, still for that.
Speaker 1:Back in the day.
Speaker 3:Nobody knew. This was back in the day, back when I had less chance of pulling a hammy, but I danced around that whole stage. I think the school board members that were sitting there were like what is going on? And that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So then they changed the rules after that year. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 3:Yes, they call it the Rick Larson something. No, I think they're I don't know Rick Larson something. No, I think they're I don't know. But that was so fun to just kind of surprise the kids that way and do that.
Speaker 1:So maybe you just described the best part of your job, but I did want to ask that what's the best part of your job? There's so many.
Speaker 3:I mean, the first word that comes to mind is relationships, though for me I feel like we're in a like Chrissy had said before. We're in a position where we really get to know families and parents and students. Also, with our coworkers, I feel like I get to know pretty much everybody in the building teachers, custodians and kitchen teachers, custodians and kitchen. I just feel so grateful for those relationships, because that's what it takes to make that positive high school experience for all those students is that when people know each other, when the staff know each other and like a kid struggling over here, if a teacher doesn't know me or what I'm about, well, they're not going to give me an email or like, hey, larson, could you maybe check in with this kid, or that kind of thing. So I think those relationships serve such a purpose, but they're my favorite part of getting to know people. It's just I love that. So that would be what I'd say.
Speaker 1:So maybe the question for you is what are you going to miss most?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Well, those I know. I had to write something up for my retirement on what I'm going to miss and I did put those relationships with my colleagues. Like Rick said, they're just priceless and it takes a village to raise these kids and to get them across that stage.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And my 35 years in District 742, both schools that I've worked at, I mean, the staff has just been top notch loving, caring, educated, yeah. So I think that, besides my kids, in fact some of my students who are juniors, just say Miss Lane, can you just stay one more year?
Speaker 1:One more year, yeah.
Speaker 2:And my seniors this year. But that's why I told my juniors I said well, my seniors said that last year, so I did stay one more year. So I said if I don't go now, I probably will never go.
Speaker 1:Got to cut the cords. Got to cut the cord? Yes. So the flip side is what's the biggest challenge? Do you think of your job? It's got to cut the cord, yes. So the flip side is what's the biggest challenge? Do you think of your job?
Speaker 2:It's very stressful, I think, because you're juggling so many things at one time and I think it's just part of our nature not to let any of those balls drop.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You really see this more than a job. These are kids' future, these are kids' lives in which you're dealing with. So I think sometimes it's hard to leave things at work and not necessarily bring home with you and I think, our high caseloads if you have 300 kids on a caseload, you want to be able to touch each one of those kids in some sort of way throughout their four years. So I I struggle with that that. Have I done enough?
Speaker 2:with all of them? Yeah, definitely, I think that's my struggle that's well said, for sure.
Speaker 3:I echo that. There's things, like any job that kind of make you crabby. Well, they're not like. I mean, that's just how it is you did, is you did that? They're annoying or something's like.
Speaker 3:I don't want to do this paperwork. I don't want to do this data entry type stuff or or those kinds of things, but I think it's that they're just hard, hard things that you become involved with when you are working with students that have high needs and different things going on, and so it's tough to leave that at school. I was told early on as I got going out of Paul and things like that, and my wife is like you got to leave some of that stuff in the garage or something you know because there is. There's those things where you're working with a kid whose parents dying and you know that parent well, but you are doing your best to like be there for that student and then, after they leave your office and take care of yourself too. But yeah, there's just a lot of hard things that we see in education.
Speaker 1:You do hard things every day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everybody does hard things. That is your job. Yeah, yeah, absolutely hard things every day. Yeah, everybody, that's that is your job in our job.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah absolutely well, since you're both veteran counselors okay okay, can you talk about and I think you went there a little bit rick can you talk about how the jobs changed, because it has right over time. What do you see? And maybe, and maybe you just want to pick one thing what do you see as maybe one of the bigger changes over the years?
Speaker 2:Well, I think just the change of population within the St Cloud area. I have grown so much within our EL population, my knowledge, my geography number one, but just being able to experience other cultures, immensely, I think. I'm just some of our conversations with parents and students, but just being able to to ask ourselves as a district and as a school how do we program for kids who don't look like us and who do not come from Minnesota, and I think our district has.
Speaker 2:And maybe don't speak our language, do not speak our language Correct, and I just think our district has put that as a priority and just the smiles on the students and the parents' faces because they just value education so much and are so appreciative of what the schools are doing. So I would say in my career that's probably the biggest growth. But I also think it's the same. Some of the stuff is the same, the same concerns the same issues, but add a greater impact. You know with inflation, the way that it is, you know with the socioeconomic status of families. You know compared to 35 years ago. So I think just the change in the world.
Speaker 3:Yes, creates those things. I think so. Yeah, I mean, when I came on in 99, we had two amazing ESL teachers at Apollo, judy Germanson and Sharon Larson, and they were our two ESL teachers. That's what we call it at the time.
Speaker 1:And was that at Apollo or for the whole district? Wasn't that the whole district? It was housed at Apollo? I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:No, I think it was Apollo, because I think that same year we had like 15 at Tech, so that was Not staff.
Speaker 3:Kids, students yes, and we had had. Sharon and Judy were working at Apollo for a long time, I guess. I can't recall, I can just know what was happening at Apollo and it was mainly Vietnamese and.
Speaker 3:Laotian students mostly, who made up our EL population and now, as we go to 2024, I mean I think we have maybe 11 EL staff teachers that department. It's amazing the diversity of the different students that we have from different backgrounds, and the power of this district getting those foundational English skills and all the rest of math, social science, all those things, and just to see that happen from the beginning of students coming into our district that don't have any English at all or very little to being able to get a high school diploma down the road. So yeah, it is. It's that, chrissy, is a great point. That has definitely been a big change that I've seen. But, like you said, like kids are still kids.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:They are. They're still going through those developmental stages that we got well-versed in in our, in our master's program, erickson stages of development, all those things.
Speaker 1:I'm taking notes.
Speaker 3:But you know that's there's still, that there's still. How do you work with impulsivity? How do you work with this identity searching? Things and trying to figure out who they are and all those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, if we were to wrap up and glean from your great veteran wisdom? Wow, what.
Speaker 2:I feel like pressure coming on.
Speaker 1:I don't know, are you stressed? Yeah, now what advice would you leave? A student and you can pick, it's May, so you could say for a senior, for someone graduating and going on, or maybe, chrissy, you talked a lot about that transition year, that ninth grade, and we didn't talk about bar. That would be one of the big changes to how we take ninth graders now and we kind of embrace them right, we bring them together as a whole. So maybe the advice would be to that transitional ninth grader. But what advice would you want to leave?
Speaker 3:What great wisdom, oh man, there's just so much wisdom that's just overflowing, isn't there, chrissy? Just?
Speaker 2:pick one, pearl Rick One, I would say find something that you're passionate about, because I would bet that there's a career that's attached to your passion, and oftentimes in ninth grade kids may want to be an NBA player. You know, you hear that a lot, okay, but what's associated with that? What would be your plan B? If that's your passion, let's then talk about exercise science, let's talk about anything within that sports training career. So really, just look at your passions and take advantage of everything that this district has to offer. We have so many college in the school classes, post-secondary options, ap exam. I mean just every opportunity for kids to be able to explore what they would like to do in the future. Totally.
Speaker 1:And that's a good one, Rick, are you intimidated?
Speaker 2:That was good Well probably because I'm 10 years older than you.
Speaker 3:She's a bit more veteran.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm veteran veteran.
Speaker 3:She's going on retirement number two. We're going to call her platinum oh.
Speaker 3:I like that. I don't know if I do. I love that. That's awesome because we want these students to have momentum. We want them to have this bridge and some kind of trajectory and inertia, you might say, so they can kind of pivot. It's like I've got all these things that I've learned and was exposed to in high school and being able to hopefully develop some of those things into a passion yeah, I'm not going to argue with that. That's good stuff, chrissy. I would add to that this whole idea of figuring out how to be okay with who you are. That's good stuff. Figure out who you are and that that is good, and that you're awesome and that your gifts are uniquely yours.
Speaker 1:Do things with them, whatever that might be, but being able to have that sense and that self-awareness- as you both know, I'm a former high school teacher and I agree with you, by the way, 100%. Kids are kids Like. I was recently working with a teen panel about a week ago and, oh my gosh, it was so much fun and they were so incredible and they were in a room of 100 adults and they just, you know, blew the ceiling off. They were just tremendous.
Speaker 1:When I think of change and what I've seen over the years, one of the things I worry about with youngsters with young kids is, it seems to me like the pressures going out there, whether you're going to college or whether you're going in a career pathway. It seems to me that there just seems to be so much pressure. You don't apply to one school, you apply to five and you have your backup school. You know you're going to explore all these career pathways. It just seems to me like there's a lot of pressure on teenagers now. Is that a perception or do you see kids struggling with that?
Speaker 3:I think there is that pressure. I think that we have set up in some ways. For some reason they're supposed to kind of have it figured out as they get done with high school. And, as I recall, I didn't go into anything that I was thinking I was going to go into after I got done with high school and, as I recall, I didn't go into anything that I was thinking I was going to go into after I got done with high school. But I had that momentum, I had that trajectory to be able to pivot as I was figuring out what was at the next level. But I do think that there's some of that pressure that they do need to have it kind of figured out. I'm not sure where that comes from or if it's always kind of been there and it's just ramped up a little bit, but I don't know. I see it a bit.
Speaker 2:And I think that's just part of being an 18-year-old almost graduate. What I do like, though, nowadays is college means many things that it just isn't.
Speaker 2:I'm going to a four-year college. We know with the student loan, you know with the debts, all of that, that there's so many occupations out there that require anywhere from a one to a four-year to, of course, graduate school. So I think kids have not necessarily more options, but I think people are more supportive of any of those options compared to, I think, 30 years, 35 years ago, when I was in college, that it was just kind of expected once you graduated, you went to college, you went to a four year and I actually started out in accounting major and I came out.
Speaker 1:What? How did I not know this? Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, because that's really all that I knew in high school, just coming from a really small school, but with all the exposure of different things in high schools this time that I think kids have better ideas, different ideas.
Speaker 3:Even being able to know what they don't like, right, you know that's where that exploration really comes in, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Try more than one thing Right and the biggest message is just do something, because just graduating from high school, I don't know, you know how well of a paying job that you were going to get just right out of high school. But that doesn't mean that you have to go to a four-year college either. It may mean that you go to an apprenticeship, you go to a one-year program, you go to a two-year program and there's a lot of exciting stuff going on.
Speaker 1:There isn't there I mean our community is just kind of bustling Our business community, our manufacturing community, higher ed. It just seems like this community is willing to take those teens and say yeah, try us out. You know, come over here and take a look. I think it's a smart economic move for business. But boy, does it support kids. Well, I would say that our teenagers are really lucky to have you two in your veteran counselor chairs.
Speaker 2:We are lucky to have them. I mean seriously, the best gig ever.
Speaker 3:Chris, you would say that, yeah, I have gained so much more than I've given from the students that have been in my life. Without a doubt I have learned so much from all the different situations and gifts these kids have for sure, that's how I feel.
Speaker 1:You guys are going to make me cry. But speaking of gifts, I have we have gifts. I have gifts for you for being on the show today.
Speaker 2:What the?
Speaker 1:what you are very own coffee Kazma.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I feel like a celebrity. There you go, tammy, you shouldn't have. I feel like I'm on a Jimmy Kimmel show or something. Oh, yeah, yeah, with ladders.
Speaker 1:Do you have a great podcast idea? Submit your idea to communications at ISD742.org. And. Thank you for listening to 742 CoffeeCast, the best place to stay informed and be inspired by St Cloud Area School District.