The Path to Counseling

I have always been aware of my family's career and education history, but I have never outlined it like I did for the career genogram. I found that few connections exist among my family as far as careers go. My dad and grandfather both work in a field of engineering, but one is on top of buildings and the other is on the roads under the buildings. Somehow the biggest connection is between my father and husband (I really did marry my dad). They work together and gave VERY similar answers for the family attitudes questions. There has been a shift in financial stability from my grandparents to my parents and moving on to my husband and me. No one in the generations before got college degrees. My grandparents wanted to, but there was no way they could pay for it. My parents started college but never finished because they started working to support us kids. Because of their hard work, I was able to go to college (they did not really give me a choice) and pursue a teaching career. I am the first person in my family with a college degree, but because of my husband and I both having degrees, that standard will continue in our family.

Choosing to be a teacher was a long, winding road for me. Like many college students, I changed my mind a time or two. I finally decided on Family and Consumer Sciences which lead me to teaching. Being in my first of teaching (and pregnant) I have faught to maintain my sanity. It has not been everything Harry Wong promised it would be. I quickly began exploring careers to get my Masters degree in so that I could escape the classroom sooner. I first thought I wanted to do administration so I could straighten the kids out. Later I thought I wanted to do curriculum and instruction so that I could develop content kids actually wanted to learn about. However, as the year progressed I found that I actually liked the high schoolers and their annoying quirks. I was drawn to what made each student different and reminded of what was so important at that stage in life. Teaching CTE (career and technology) classes has allowed me to help guide students to explore careers and subjects that interest them. I discovered during units about sensitive topics like teen dating abuse, that students were comfortable telling me their secrets (some I wish I didn't know). As I put the pieces together, I found that escaping the classroom to get away from students was not what I actually wanted. I wanted to be in a different position to impact and guide the students' lives. While I know this is possible as a teacher, I have found that I am drawn to the work of counseling.