Valerie Merkel

I will be working as the Freshman and Sophmore class counselor in the high school where I am already employed in a rural and isolated community I have been a coach here as well as a high school world history teacher and department head. I love our students and our community and wanted a way to speak int the lives of our students and reach them on a broader level. I believe that counseling gives me the opportunity to reach our entire student population by advocating for special populations and designing a best school environmnet to help all students be successful during their high school experience and beyond into their adult lives.

Within the parameters of my counseling curriculum, I have enjoyed crisis intervention counseling and seeking out ways to be proactive and minimize threats to our students. I have also become very interested in special populations group counseling techniques to target removing feelings of isolation and depression within students by creating safe, accepting environments where students are comfortable sharing and can vocalize negative and harmful feelings prior to engaging in detrimental activities that could be devastating.

My hobbies are spending time with my family, coaching youth, attending school events, and fellowship opportunities with our church family as well as my friends. I am an avid reader and enjoy studying and seeking out new and emerging information in my professional environment.