Pucci Angell, Lorice J. Autiello-Daignault, Abigail Titmas

What inspired you to become a school counselor, and what brought you to PPSD?

PA: I was a community specialist at Nathanael Greene to start working closely Lori and with the guidance team. I just loved everything about it—contacting families and supporting students and seeing a real change in them. It was something I really wanted to do.

LD: My story is different because I taught fifth grade for 27 years at George J. West School. I got the counseling degree when I was 30 and just sat on it for 20 years. When I turned 50, I said what am I waiting for and why haven’t I used it. So that is when I decided to switch gears a little and become a counselor. Why did I get the degree? As a teacher, I was constantly counseling. So I said I may as well learn about it and try to master it.

AD:  I was teaching kindergarten and 1st grade at Carl Lauro Elementary School. I felt like the mental health needs of our students were so great and so vast. There was definitely a need there. I enjoyed building really strong relationships with students and helping them. So I went to school for my counseling degree.

What does a typical day look like for a PPSD (or their school) school counselor?

Every day is different. It includes scheduling students, risk assessments, attendance check-ins, running grade reports and seeing what students need more support. We support teachers as well and pull kids to help them get work done if they are missing assignments or need targeted support. This door stays open and we are always helping students, admins, and teachers.

How do you support students academic and social well being?

We are always running reports to see how students are doing and target supports for them. We have grade level and pod assemblies for students to learn about what is available to them after middle school. We host a career fair for students inviting area business professionals in to talk about what they do and spark students’ interests. We know every kid here by name and are always here for them every day to support them academically and socially. Having a consistent person there for them every day is important. We host tutoring for students on Mondays and Tuesdays afterschool. Also we have clubs for students to have something to be able to do and find hobbies that interest them. We have about 200 kids on Thursdays for clubs. We have 8 clubs to choose from that cycle in three sessions so students can try multiple areas. We have a lot of students who do not have computers at home and the afterschool tutoring hours let them have access to computers.

How do you collaborate with teachers and families to help students succeed?

Teachers are able to work together and with us during Common Planning Time so that they can bounce ideas about what is and isn’t working for a student. We are able to see where students are succeeding and where they need additional support. I also think that the teacher’s are comfortable coming to us when they feel a student needs additional support.

What’s one thing you wish more people knew about school counseling at PPSD?

We do a little bit of everything SEL and academics. We are looking at student holistically and we are the centerpiece to making everything click with student, teacher, family and community. We are working with four different parts. Our job is the parent, the admin, the student and the family. We are working with four different sectors and they are all equally important. Are you academically well? And if you are not we have to look at the pieces and see what is impacting the student.