Governor, Kristi Noem, signed an Executive Proclamation declaring the week of February 7th as National School Counseling Week. School counselors are employed in schools to help students reach their full potential. In honor of NSCW, here is an introduction to Wagner Community School’s three counselors: Jen Lhotak, Stephanie Burgeson, and Charlene Soukup.

Jen Lhotak is the high school counselor and one of the favorite parts of her job is watching students grow and mature. “They come into high school as freshman learning to manage new freedoms and leave as seniors ready to make their own decisions,” she says. Jen graduated from South Dakota State University with her Master of Science degree in School Counseling in 1999. She then worked as the 6th- 12th grade counselor at Sioux Valley School in Volga for 14 years. After her family moved to Wagner she spent two years working at Marty Indian School as the high school counselor, six years at Andes Central as the 6th-12th grade counselor, and this is her first year with Wagner Community School. Jen is happy to be back working at the school she graduated from in 1993. Jen lives south of Wagner with her husband Brad and has three children: Bradyn who attends Mitchell Technical College, Karstyn (10th grade) and Jazlyn (6th grade). Jen’s favorite part of her day is working with/talking to students and being an advocate for them.

Stephanie Burgeson, middle school counselor, loves working with the 5th-8th grade students as they are her favorite age group. She went to South Dakota State University for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Before coming to Wagner, she worked for the Yankton School District as a teacher and school counselor for 24 years. This is Stephanie’s third year as the Wagner Middle School counselor. Stephanie likes working in a smaller community and appreciates the sense of pride the community takes in their school district. She said, “Everyone is friendly and comes together for the greater good of generations to come.” She lives in Yankton with her husband Mike, who is the Safety Systems Coordinator at Wagner Community School. They have two sons: Brody, who is in the US Army at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and Hudson who is a freshman at Yankton High School. She enjoys the variety that her job as the middle school counselor brings, no day is quite the same!

Charlene Soukup, elementary school counselor, loves the start of her day when she greets students as they come to school, something she has been doing for 13 years. Charlene went to the University of South Dakota and graduated in 2008 with her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and continued on for her Master of Arts degree in school counseling which she obtained in 2010. She began working at the school in 2009 as the elementary counselor while she completed her school counseling degree. Charlene lives in Wagner with her husband Jamie and children: Clarah (4th grade), Windsor (2ndgrade), and Willow (preschool). Charlene loves getting to know all of the Kindergarten through 4th grade students and their families and being available to meet the needs of students each day.

School counselors are certified/licensed educators who improve student success for all students by implementing a comprehensive school counseling program. School counselors are held to ethical standards, involved in state and national organizations like the South Dakota Counseling Association, South Dakota School Counseling Association, and the American School Counseling Association. If you have any questions about the Wagner school counselors, please ask one of us.