Synnora Wilbur is the middle school and high school counselor for the Andes Central School District. Andes Central does not currently have an elementary counselor, but Mr. Clint Nelson, the elementary school principal has stepped in and has helped teach the elementary guidance classes to help students learn social and emotional skills.

Synnora has been working as a school counselor going on her fourth year now, three of those years have been working for Andes Central. Wilbur went to the University of South Dakota for her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and then returned to USD to receive her Master’s in School Counseling.

When asked why she wanted to become a school counselor, Synnora said that after completing her Psychology Degree she was not sure exactly what she wanted to do. She worked as a paraprofessional at Wagner Community School in a kindergarten classroom for a year before realizing what she wanted to do. Working with the kindergarteners made her realize that she loved working in the school environment and wanted to work in a position that supported both the students and staff, which lead her to a career in school counseling.

It was the lack of a school counselor in Synnora’s school life that was influential in her decision to become one. Growing up, she did not have a school counselor that helped her transition to new schools. The schools that she attended had a guidance counselor whose only job was to help her get into classes in high school, and the bare minimum to help her with college. Her lack of a school counselor made her want to do better for the next generation.

As a school counselor, Synnora has many daily duties and responsibilities. School counselors have many different duties that fall under five categories: direct services, indirect services, program planning, fair-share duties, and non-school counseling duties. Direct services are duties like meeting with students one on one, in groups and doing classroom lessons. Indirect services are collaborating with teachers, parents, and counseling agencies to help students get the resources that they need. Program planning is planning interventions, financial aid nights, and defining and managing day-to-day operations. Fair-share duties are those that other staff members do as well as part of helping the school run such as lunchroom supervision and serving as a student organization advisor. Synnora serves as the National Honor Society advisor for Andes Central as part of her fair-share duties. Finally, there are the non-school counseling duties that are inappropriately assigned to school counselors.

Something unique and interesting that Synnora brings to her position as school counselor is that she graduated from high school in Korea. When she tells her students that fact, they are always very surprised. She feels that it helps her relate to the students better by showing them that a person can come from such a different background and still be able to work well with people who have different life experiences than they do.

When asked what the most important skills she feels that a school counselor should possess in order for the counselor and students to both be successful, Synnora’s response was the ability to mediate conversations, the willingness to work with people of different perspectives to find common ground for the greater good and good listening skills.

As a school counselor she has many goals for her students for the rest of this school year. She bases her goals off of student data which is gathered throughout the current school year and previous school year. This year, Wilbur sent a survey to each student asking how they rank themselves on all the School Counseling Standards. Based on the data that she received from that assessment, her goals for the students are to work on social skills such as working with other people and in groups as well as some learning strategies including organization and how to self-motivate to complete assignments.

Wilbur has many favorite parts of her school day. In the mornings, she enjoys being in the halls seeing the students as they arrive for the day greeting them with a smile that lets them know “welcome to school, we’re glad you’re here”. When her schedule allows, she likes to be able to sit with students at lunch. Synnora enjoys getting to know the students in the more relaxed environment that lunch allows versus the classroom. Another favorite part of her day is when she can help a student calm down so that he or she can be more successful in the classroom. School can be very stressful and she is glad that she can be there for students when they need a space to decompress.

The most rewarding part of being a student counselor is the “aha” moments. Synnora loves it when she has a student who has been struggling with future plans come to her and say “hey Mrs. Wilbur, I decided what I want to do after high school,’ or when a student who avoids classes regularly gets to class on time. She tries to celebrate all the wins whether they are big or small ones because it shows how much the students are growing and each student is different.

Synnora was very happy when a school counseling position opened up at Andes Central, especially only a year after she had started working as a school counselor. She had previously been a counselor at a school that was not as close to where she lived. Synnora had actually done a mini-internship at Andes Central in the middle school/ high school under the guidance of Jennifer Lhotak in 2018. It was exciting when she did get the position to see all the changes that the school had undergone since she had been there last.

Synnora is married. Her and her husband have two daughters age 2 and five months. The couple also have two dogs who are 8 and 9 years of age. When Synnora is not busy working, she enjoys painting, reading and being active. Her hobbies all help her to take care of herself and in doing so she can better care for her own children and the Andes Central students to the best of her ability.

Thank you, Synnora, for all your hard work and dedication tothestudentsandstaff atAndes Central. It is wonderful staff like you that make the Andes Central School system a great place for students.