A Message from our President, Jennifer Harley

Dear Counselors,

Welcome back to a school year we all hoped and prayed would be a smooth transition back to normalcy. If you are like me, when asked, “How are you doing?” Your normal/typical response is “I’m good.” However, in the back of your mind…you have to complete 10-504 plans, scheduling issues, Parent Teacher Conferences you have to schedule and attend, student and family issues, student vs student issues, lack of motivation of students, more responsibility this year than last year, family life, social life (or lack of) …but we respond, “I’m good, how are you?”

A couple of months ago, I was in the ladies’ room at a restaurant, and I went to wash my hands. There was an older lady washing her hands also and I said, “Hello, how are you?” And her response truly shocked me. She stated” I’m hopeful.” She then proceeded to tell me if you have hope you look for brighter days. I tried to hold on to this saying and respond with, “I’m hopeful.” As this year begins, lets make a conscious effort to be hopeful.

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie 

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller

As this school year began, our counseling community felt the loss and pain of losing an amazing School Counselor, Mr. William Scully from Sterling High School. As I look at all the beautiful tributes from students (current and former), colleagues, family and friends, this was a man well loved and respected. He shared the belief of spreading hope, joy and good counsel. In the days and months ahead, please continue to support our fellow counselors at Sterling High School.

The Camden County School Counselors Association is an opportunity for all of us to get together, share resources, discover new programs, share new ideas, but most of all support one another. Last year, we were able to begin our “normal programs/activities”, and we are hoping to continue it this year also. Attached you will find our CCSCA Membership packet. As an Executive Committee, we decided to keep the membership dues at a lower cost again this year. We would love for each school to participate, remember dues help us to provide scholarships for our students.

Our first event for this year will be our Round Table. Attached you will also find a Save the Date with all of the events scheduled for this year. We are hosting our Winter Virtual Round Table on Thursday, December 15th. Please complete the link HERE to register. This event will be Virtually ONLY. Dave Bruno and Sean Dwyer will begin our Round Table informing us of the E-Sports program at Camden County College, Cherry Hill. The Zoom link for the Round Table will be sent on Wednesday.

I hope you have an enjoyable school year. If you have any questions or suggestions for the CCSCA, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to seeing you all during our amazing events and I hope to see you this Thursday on Zoom.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein

Jennifer Harley
CCSCA President
jharley@bhprsd.org