Society and intends to live up to its promise of

society, and intends to live up to its promise of providing vital avenues of access and opportunity,
school counselors, in conjunction with other important school stakeholders, must use their
unique educational backgrounds and strategic position in schools to make meaningful change in
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their schools.” (Griffin and Steen, 2011) School counselors use the available data to be a system
agent of change because they want the best for their students and to make the connection that
what the student is learning today is important for success in the future. To help the student walk
with purpose and determination requires collaboration with other team members and
stakeholders. A school counselor needs to collaborate with administrators, parents, community
members, coaches and students. “Collaborative skills are a building block for leadership, and
without leadership our advocacy efforts on behalf of students is stymied.” (Stone, 2005)
A goal of the school counselor is to not only advocate or speak for the student who is not
able to speak for themselves, but to teach the student how to advocate for themselves, to
empower the student to take an active role in their education. In helping a student develop their
self-determination skills, and take control of their own paths, provides the student the
opportunity to take accountability and ownership for their learning and their achievement. When
a student feels free to build their confidence and develop competencies, is provided with a safe
environment to practice self-advocacy and begin taking ownership for their learning and
education, he or she will begin to feel empowered and successful. Empowerment needs to
happen during the school day because an empowered student begins to set his or her own high
expectations and goals, and begins to be internally motivated to achieve and do well.
Component #5: Ethical and Legal
On a daily basis, a school counselor may be faced with situations and challenges due to
the fact that their clients range from kindergarten students to seniors in high school, and from
administrators to parents. As a member of the helping community, our goal is for all of our
students to have equitable access, to be exposed to as many opportunities for learning and growth
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as possible. Our mission is to meet the needs of our students and do so in a manner that is not
detrimental to their education and progress. As stated in the Ethical Standards for School
Counselors 2016, school counselors are to make sure that students are treated with dignity,
provide opportunities to develop positive mindsets that lifelong learning is a necessary
component for long-term career success, and provide a safe environment to learn and practice the
necessary skills to become a successful adult. “Ethics can be viewed as values in action or the
practical rules and boundaries that guide our professional and ministry behavior.” (AACC, 2014)