Cathy Sullivan
Tyler ISD, Texas

Cathy Sullivan found the perfect after-hours activity for a school counselor: juggling! She had joked with her husband about her task-juggling skills so often that her entire family enrolled in real juggling lessons.

Sullivan keeps many balls in the air at her job as a counselor with Tyler ISD in Texas. One of her achievements is a marked improvement in attendance at her school. She has implemented many innovative policies to reduce absences, including rewarding students who have perfect attendance records with a basketball for being part of the NBA (Never Been Absent) club.

One of the first steps, she says, was "teaching kids to sneeze properly. That was interesting." By teaching them not to spread germs, she helped reduce illness-related absences.

She also looked at social issues. "I was talking to kids who didn't want to come to school because they were bullied," she says, adding that although they didn't have a lot of bullies, just one could have a negative effect. She introduced classroom programs emphasizing social skills and personal responsibility.

Sullivan has worked in the school system for over 18 years. She started as a high school Spanish teacher. She soon realized she was spending quite a bit of time helping students with personal problems and became a counselor in order to "help any way that I can."

Sullivan loves working with the elementary school age group. She works on emphasizing the positive side.

"I like rewarding kids for positive behavior," she says.

And she finds plenty to be positive about with her young students. She points to a recent fundraiser as an example.

"This is a poorer school, but kids were still bringing in their dimes and pennies for leukemia. I told them that every penny helps."

Bridges Transitions congratulates Cathy Sullivan for making a difference in the lives of her students.

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