The definition of a “counselor” is someone who gives guidance or advice on personal, social, or psychological problems. They listen and provide help with people’s problems.
Riordan has one counselor for each grade: Vannesa Vincent for the freshmen, David Canales for the sophomores, Vanessa Martinez for the juniors, and Melanie Aguas for the seniors.
In addition, Riordan has two wellness counselors, three college counselors, and a frosh wellness instructor: Pia Crosby and Melissa Hansel, wellness counselors and David Lin, Melissa Nagar, and Jackie Grealish are the college counselors, as well as Jeri Kenny, the frosh wellness instructor.
Counselors are a big part of someone’s life when it comes to having someone to lean on or ask for support.
Nagar said, “The biggest part of counseling is to be able to establish rapport with your students so that you can help not only guide and advise so your students feel comfortable enough to open up to you and come to you to get help when they need it.
The counselors for each grade level generally help when it comes to navigating issues with academics, athletics, social dilemmas, mental health, and the college application process. Furthermore, they help with scheduling classes.
Tyrone Jones III ’27 talked about how having a counselor has helped him saying, “Ms. Vincent has helped me with setting up my classes for next year and checking up on me.”
College counselors are a crucial part of the college application process, as they help with researching colleges, navigating the college application process, and helping prepare for tests such as the SAT and ACT.
Grealish said, “A lot of it has to do with helping kids organize deadlines. College applications have a lot of moving pieces: essays, short answers, self reported grades, scholarships, FAFSA, and more.”
She continued, “The College Counseling team at Riordan has a lot of helpful tools like SCOIR to keep students, families, and counselors on the same page.”
The wellness counselors help students with navigating their overall wellbeing. They provide students with the tools necessary to help them improve their overall state mentally and physically.
Hansell said, “First I try to do a lot of listening to make sure I understand the student and their concerns. Every student is different and every situation is different.”
She added, “Students know themselves the best and often have the best ideas related to things they’re going through, so I ask a lot of questions to try to help students figure out what might be helpful for them.”
Everything said to a counselor is kept confidential and kept in that room unless in the case of emergencies. While they may not always have a solution to every problem, they can provide guidance on how to overcome or deal with it. Talking to a counselor can help build confidence in certain situations and help manage emotions and stress with other situations.
In frosh wellness specifically, figuring out the whole high school experience, physical and mental health, communication skills and decision making, is incredibly beneficial for incoming students.
