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National School Counseling Week: School Counselors make a positive impact for Osseo Area Schools

National School Counseling Week: School Counselors make a positive impact for Osseo Area Schools

School Counselors play an insurmountable role in the lives of scholars. During National School Counseling Week (Feb. 6-10), Osseo Area Schools recognizes the contributions and tremendous impact school counselors have on ensuring scholars have the essential support needed to succeed. This week, we will feature a few of the dedicated elementary, middle and high school counselors that help our scholars.

Elementary Schools

At the elementary schools, school counselors assist scholars in a variety of ways, greeting them in the mornings, working with kids one on one who are struggling with a variety of needs such as anxiety and emotion regulation, running two to three lunch groups with students who have been identified by a universal screener, leading classroom lessons teaching skills and small groups that circle on positive friendships, female empowerment and strong interpersonal relationships.

“What’s amazing about elementary school kids is there is so much opportunity for growth, and you can work with them at an age where they are still so able to change and grow. You can really see some big impact from working with kids of that age.” Amy Paton, school counselor at Basswood Elementary School, said. 

“As school counselors, I think what’s really beautiful about our job is that we’re like the umbrella above all students, so that no student feels like they’re not involved and not learning. It’s so important at this age," said Lois Cassell, school counselor at Palmer Lake Elementary School.

Read more about the elementary school counselors. 

Middle Schools

In middle school, school counselors assist students with social-emotional learning using classroom lessons, drop-in visits and a lot of flexibility for counselors to adapt to the students’ needs. 

“We’re here to help the whole child and the whole school community to feel safe, seen and important,” Kaylee Herlofsky, school counselor at North View Middle School, said. 

Read more about the middle school counselors. 

High Schools

At the high school, school counselors meet with students one on one to helps with academics, behavior issues, attendance, learning concerns, mental health, motivation and more. 


“School counselors do tons of things behind the scenes that I think people don’t really know about,” Yohe said. “We are trained in how to work with students on social-emotional stuff, and for a lot of us that is what we get into it for, but there are a lot of other tasks we end up doing as well.” Chris Yohe, school counselor at 279Online, said. 

Read more about the high school counselors.