Behind closed doors, the RHS counseling department moves heaven and hell to make our school lives run as smoothly as possible. Many students probably don’t know about the schedule the counselors maintain to keep students on track to graduate. Our counseling department, Mr. Budech, Ms. Cathcart, Ms. Pappas-Stallman, Ms. Pike, Ms. Renfro, Ms. Wetzel, and Mr. White all put in a tremendous amount of effort to complete their daily tasks, which range from preparing students academically to social emotional counseling for students.

The main job of the four RHS counselors is to help students graduate, but there’s also other roles in the counseling department. For example, Ms. Pappas-Stallman’s job is counseling office secretary. Her tasks include directing students to their counselor’s office, making appointments as needed, printing transcripts out for students, and doing withdrawals of all the students that transfer schools. Additionally according to Ms. Pappas-Stallman, “we have our registrar, [Ms. Cathcart], who is the one responsible for updating the grades on all transcripts, so that we have them in the system and can print them out to the students or the colleges that need them. We have a registrar counseling assistant, Ms. Renfro, and she is also our Mckinney-Vento Liaison, which is [for] our homeless students, so she works specifically with homeless and then whatever other tasks that are added to her to help out with the counseling office.”

To put it into perspective, this is a list of some tasks that the RHS counseling department
complete almost daily throughout the school year:

● Answering emails, phone calls, and messages
● Create students’ class schedules

● Evaluate students’ transcripts to make sure that they’re on track
● Help with running start
● Make sure 12th graders are on track to graduate
● Organize the STAMP Test
● Plan meetings with students to meet their needs
● Print out transcripts for students or colleges that need them
● Social-emotional counseling with students
● Use resources to help students affected by the pandemic
● Working with exchange students, ELL teachers, and the Special Education
Department

Now you know part of the work that goes into helping students graduate. Ms. Wetzel says that “The counseling department helps students make sure that they’re on track to graduate, [and] it helps students with all social and emotional issues.” Additionally, Mr. Budech agrees that “the whole counseling department is composed of people who are here to help students either graduate, find post secondary placement, and remain as mentally balanced as possible and also connect them with outside resources they may need for academic or mental health purposes.” They would be happy to help in any way possible, whether it be academic related or a personal issue. The counselors may have other tasks on their hands, but they focus on helping students and putting students first. Ms. Pike mentions that “we wish we had more time to be out with the students.” Remember to utilize this resource since the counselors’ main focus is to support students. A big thank you to Mr. Budech, Ms. Cathcart, Ms. Pappas-Stallman, Ms. Pike, Ms. Renfro, Ms. Wetzel, and Mr. White for working so hard to aid students!

Counseling Department Contact Info:

https://rentonhs.rentonschools.us/counseling