Supporting Students with Summer Jobs & Internships

I still remember my early years as a counselor—wide-eyed, overwhelmed, and trying my best to learn everything at once.  The systems.  The policies.  The culture of each school I entered.  And then the things no one teaches you in training: balancing competing priorities, managing time when every task feels urgent, and discovering how to be fully present for every student who walks through my door.

Looking back, I realize that in juggling all those moving parts, I sometimes missed opportunities—moments when I could have helped students see the deeper value in experiences that didn’t look academic at first glance.  One of the biggest among them?  Summer jobs and internships.