In honor of National School Counseling Week, Bridges and Xap would like to recognize...

Tawnya Teter
Lovell High School
Lovell, Wyoming

In one case, that meant driving to a student's home at 7:45 a.m. every morning and honking the horn until he left the house for school. The student was a high school senior with attendance issues, a drug problem and a desire to drop out.

"I would do whatever it takes to help a kid. I just believe that to go out into the world without a high school diploma would be horrible," says Teter, counselor at Lovell High School in Lovell, Wyoming.

That high school senior did go on to graduate. He's now clean and holds a job.

Teter's proudest moments are when she sees at-risk students at her high school's graduation ceremony -- students she's helped throughout the year. "I feel like I've dragged some of those kids across the stage," she says.

With a door that's always open, Teter often sees a constant stream of students through her office. Some have been bullied at school, some are experiencing problems at home. Others have questions about grades, scholarships or careers. And others are just having a bad day and need to cry.

With a bachelor's degree in education, a master's degree in counseling and a teacher's certificate, Teter's involved in a myriad of coalitions and projects. She chairs an intervention team at her school. She serves on a health coalition, a drug task force and a suicide prevention coalition for her county.

She received additional training and brought in a "virtual school" to Lovell High, where students needing remediation can get extra support online. As well, students needing enrichment can take advantage of additional courses not offered through the high school, such as oceanography, psychology and art classes.

"I can't monitor them and I can't support them in a correspondence course," she says. "This way we can monitor them, we can give them support, and we can do it in the classroom."

Teter's also setting up five-year career plans for her students, using Bridges' Choices products. The plans begin with Grade 8 students selecting high school courses.

At least once a week, Teter finds herself back at the school between 9 p.m. and midnight, after spending time with her family. Some weeks, she's there every evening, filling out paperwork.

But she loves what she does. "I love it with all my heart," she says. "I would work here for free. I just think I'm one of those people that's meant to help others."

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