During his teenage years in high school Taylor was told he wasn’t college material by his school counselor which didn’t have a positive impact on him. “I had a school counselor who basically told me I wasn’t college material so I wanted to be something different than what I had experienced,” Taylor said. This incident made him realize that he wanted to be someone better than what he had, Taylor now tries to have a positive impact on others, especially on students and specifically students of color. By influencing them and encouraging them to challenge themselves by taking advantage of their opportunities. 

“I originally planned on being an accounting major but quickly realized that I was not a math person,” Taylor said. After realizing that being an accountant wasn’t for him, he then started to think about being a school counselor. The people around him motivated him by tending to tell him personal details about their lives and always asking him for advice. This is when he decided to switch from an accountant major to psychology in his freshman year of college.

This is Jarrel Taylor’s second year at LCHS working as a school counselor. Taylor has been working with us as a community for the past two years after working at Rock Ridge High School. Throughout his career he has made new memories, experiences, and friends. Before becoming a school counselor he had different plans planned for the future back in college. 

“The students are very balanced, where I came from, it was almost as if everyone was kind of competitive at times,” Taylor said. Taylor has had different experiences at both LCHS and Rock Ridge High School (RHS). He prefers working with his current students and colleagues. “Overall the environment is very friendly and we have supportive staff and teachers,” Taylor said. So far Taylor has had a good experience working with new students, counseling colleagues, and parents. 

Apart from enjoying his experience at LCHS, Taylor makes sure his students feel like they aren’t alone when going through rough patches in their lives. He understands that high school can be overwhelming for students. Whenever a student has a problem Taylor tries his best to help them out and make a big impact on them no matter what the situation might be. 

“The number one thing I’d say to a student going through a hard time is don’t go through it alone,” Taylor said. Students going through a hard time majority of the time think they’re alone and don’t speak up but there’s many trusted adults who can help like the school counselors. “Make sure you are sharing your issues with someone you trust, whether it’s your parents or friends,” Taylor said. It’s never too late to tell someone like a school counselor what you’re going through rather than staying quiet. “You’re never in trouble for falling down, we just want to make sure that you are utilizing the supports that are in place to help you get over the thump,” Taylor said. 

Although Taylor enjoys being a school counselor because he gets to learn more about his students, there can come a component where it can get stressful. Students bringing in problems unexpectedly and working on academic schedules can weigh down a school counselor. Many counselors think that it’s unfortunate how parents may think all they do is work on academic schedules which can make school counselors feel very unappreciated and unimportant. 

“It’s very important that we have self-care outside of school, like making sure we’re getting plenty of sleep, doing activities we enjoy, hanging out with friends,” Taylor said. There are multiple ways a school counselor can relieve some stress from work. Besides getting plenty of sleep and doing enjoyable activities a school counselor can take some mental days off, having good mental health means being able to serve students. “Making sure that our self-care is our

main priority is good because if we don’t take care of ourselves, then we probably wouldn’t be able to serve our students in a proper way,” Taylor said. 

Overall, Taylor aspires to serve and inspire others, especially his students this year, and to be the role model he didn’t have back in high school. For the past two years he has had an enjoyable experience working with new students and colleagues, making new memories with us as a community and will probably do so depending on how things may go for Taylor. 

“The best aspect about being a school counselor is knowing that you have impacted somebody else’s life in a positive way,” Taylor said.