One of Deborah Osborne’s favorite parts of the job is when a student walks through her door with an acceptance letter.
“It’s the best,” she says, smiling. “We do screams, we do dances. There are so many hugs.”
Osborne, a professional school counselor at Overton High School and a 10-year veteran of the district, loves celebrating each of her seniors and their accomplishments equally.
“We just had our signing day here at school, and the crowd was yelling equally for my kids heading to college just as much as my kids who are going directly into work.”
Osborne wears many hats as a school counselor. Her work touches academics, social-emotional learning, and college and career counseling – specifically helping 10th- through 12th-graders figure out what life looks like for them when high school is over.
Working as a Team
Osborne always knew she wanted to work in schools, but she also knew teaching wasn’t for her.
She credits becoming a counselor to her own high school counselor, who suggested an opportunity to her that changed her college experience and led her to the career she has now.
“This (being a counselor) way has felt like the perfect way to impact students’ lives and help them figure out who they want to be,” Osborne said.
In her role, she’s able to collaborate with faculty throughout the school to ensure all of her students are set up for success. She said that between teachers, staff, career coaches, and her team of seven counselors, they are constantly communicating back and forth about matching students with opportunities that will help them succeed.
“We all work together to pool the different resources we have and help each other’s students get the things that they need.”
Starting The Process Early
Osborne says the college and career process starts for students as early as middle school – thinking about what they want to do, doing their best in their classes, researching different jobs or colleges. When the students come to her office in their 10th-grade year, it’s her job to help them figure out and achieve their goals.
“It’s really nice to see a student when you first meet them as a 10th-grader who has all these huge dreams, or maybe no dreams at all, and to be able to put together the cause and effect of how their actions in high school limit or expand what they are able to do afterwards.”
Osborne says she loves that moment when a light bulb goes off, and her students see how it all connects.
She adds that talking about college and career options when the students are younger helps set the foundation for the tough conversations and decisions they will have to make.
“By senior year, they are hopefully coming in with a list of schools they want to apply to or apprenticeships they are interested in.”
Making Students Feel Seen
Osborne wants every student to feel supported during this period of their lives. It’s not an easy time, she says, as she recalls a student whom she supported after a meaningful person in the student’s life downplayed how hard she had been working and made the student feel unworthy.
“I worry sometimes that those of us who are not going through this process forget how tender it makes students feel about themselves and their worth,” Osborne said. “It’s a reminder to me of the impact that those of us who are adults have on a student’s journey.”
Osborne recalls another student who wanted to attend Belmont University. She had decided Belmont was the spot for her, but she was waitlisted for the Bell Tower Scholar program. With help and encouragement from Osborne, the student advocated for herself and was awarded the full-ride scholarship.
“I think this process can be so beautiful, but it can also be so devastating for students, too. Being able to walk with them through all steps of this has been so rewarding.”
Osborne added that she loves to validate each of her students’ successes.
“Do I want them to exist on external validation? No. But do I want them to know that they are internally so worthy of all these things? Yes,” she said. “They do work, and I get to cheerlead them on the entire time.”