Counselor: Hugs made demanding career worthwhile
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| SNP photo by Ben French Kathy Moore spent most of her 29-year career as a guidance counselor at Slate Hill Elementary School. Here, she holds "Magica," the first puppet she used as a teaching tool in 1991 when she started the guidance program at Slate Hill. |
* Kathy Moore retires after 29 years as a teacher and guidance counselor.
By PAMELA WILLIS
Kathy Moore will miss all the hugs.
"It was a wonderful gift to be able to have over 900 kids to embrace and care about," she said. "I could get 900 hugs a week."
Moore, 59, retired this year from the Worthington City School District after 29 years as a teacher and guidance counselor.
"I honestly felt lucky every day to have the potential to positively impact children and their families," she said. "I am one of those lucky people who love what I do."
Moore earned a bachelor's degree in English, with a teaching certificate from Wittenberg University and a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Ohio State University.
She began her career at Worthingway Middle School in 1971, then took time out to care for her child and finish her master's degree. In 1984, she worked part time as a counselor at St. Michael School, then worked three years for Dublin City Schools.
In 1991, Moore became guidance counselor at Slate Hill Elementary School.
"It was the year Slate Hill opened and Jennifer Wene became principal there," she said. "I was counselor at Slate Hill and also at Colonial Hills, because guidance counselors serve two buildings. Since 2003, I've been counselor for Evening Street in addition to Slate Hill."
Moore was named Worthington Teacher of the Year in 1976.
This spring, she received Leadership Worthington's Leadership for a Lifetime Award.
While Moore worked as counselor at Slate Hill, the school was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1998, received a Best Practices Award for Proactive Classroom-based Elementary Guidance in 2000 and received the National School of Character Award in 2003.
"It has been an amazing journey," Moore said. "When Slate Hill opened, there was no sense of community and some parents were disgruntled because their kids were moved from Worthington Park. We called Slate Hill the school in the middle of the cornfield.
"It was very challenging at first, because our school population was unique, with 35 percent free and reduced lunch and 25 different languages spoken by the families," she said. "But Jennifer had such visionary leadership and I think our elementary guidance program put a real emphasis on classroom guidance, teaching communication, problem-solving, decision-making and mediation skills. We began to develop a common language that we used again and again with kids to make connections with them and clearly establish behavior expectations."
Moore said Slate Hill went from a school with no sense of community in 1991 to a National Blue Ribbon school in 1998.
"Within seven years, that building really became something special and I think our guidance program had a lot to do with that," she said.
Moore also started parenting classes at Slate Hill.
"Parenting is the hardest job in the world and the most important job in the world and the one where we have the least training," she said. "We began a 12-hour parenting program in 1996 and offered it every year. The message I would send to parents is that parenting is too hard to do it alone.
"I was not sure if parents would embrace this course, but we had so many parents wanting to take it, we had to go to a lottery system," she said. "We tried to remove the barriers that would make it hard to attend by providing child-care and dinner for parents and kids."
Moore said parents should be "active rather than reactive.
"Parents need to lay the important relationship groundwork when children are young," she said. "If they do that, they will still have challenges, but they will have made deposits in their child's emotional bank account that will pay big dividends later."
The most important aspects of a counselor's job are vision, passion and strong work ethic, Moore said.
"Stephen Covey tells us to begin with the end in mind, so we have to picture what we want to have happen for children and worry about the details later," she said. "You have to be passionate about guiding children, and the work can be demanding and exhausting, but I've never done anything more rewarding in my life."
Moore and her husband Gary have two grown children, Chelsey and Adam, and they are expecting their first grandchild.
"We love to travel and experience new things, and now that we're retired, we want to slow down, but not too much," she said. "I think some professional occupation will emerge for me -- I've learned a lot from kids and families that I'd like to use, but I'm not sure what form that will take yet."
"It was a wonderful gift to be able to have over 900 kids to embrace and care about," she said. "I could get 900 hugs a week."
Moore, 59, retired this year from the Worthington City School District after 29 years as a teacher and guidance counselor.
"I honestly felt lucky every day to have the potential to positively impact children and their families," she said. "I am one of those lucky people who love what I do."
Moore earned a bachelor's degree in English, with a teaching certificate from Wittenberg University and a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Ohio State University.
She began her career at Worthingway Middle School in 1971, then took time out to care for her child and finish her master's degree. In 1984, she worked part time as a counselor at St. Michael School, then worked three years for Dublin City Schools.
In 1991, Moore became guidance counselor at Slate Hill Elementary School.
"It was the year Slate Hill opened and Jennifer Wene became principal there," she said. "I was counselor at Slate Hill and also at Colonial Hills, because guidance counselors serve two buildings. Since 2003, I've been counselor for Evening Street in addition to Slate Hill."
Moore was named Worthington Teacher of the Year in 1976.
This spring, she received Leadership Worthington's Leadership for a Lifetime Award.
While Moore worked as counselor at Slate Hill, the school was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1998, received a Best Practices Award for Proactive Classroom-based Elementary Guidance in 2000 and received the National School of Character Award in 2003.
"It has been an amazing journey," Moore said. "When Slate Hill opened, there was no sense of community and some parents were disgruntled because their kids were moved from Worthington Park. We called Slate Hill the school in the middle of the cornfield.
"It was very challenging at first, because our school population was unique, with 35 percent free and reduced lunch and 25 different languages spoken by the families," she said. "But Jennifer had such visionary leadership and I think our elementary guidance program put a real emphasis on classroom guidance, teaching communication, problem-solving, decision-making and mediation skills. We began to develop a common language that we used again and again with kids to make connections with them and clearly establish behavior expectations."
Moore said Slate Hill went from a school with no sense of community in 1991 to a National Blue Ribbon school in 1998.
"Within seven years, that building really became something special and I think our guidance program had a lot to do with that," she said.
Moore also started parenting classes at Slate Hill.
"Parenting is the hardest job in the world and the most important job in the world and the one where we have the least training," she said. "We began a 12-hour parenting program in 1996 and offered it every year. The message I would send to parents is that parenting is too hard to do it alone.
"I was not sure if parents would embrace this course, but we had so many parents wanting to take it, we had to go to a lottery system," she said. "We tried to remove the barriers that would make it hard to attend by providing child-care and dinner for parents and kids."
Moore said parents should be "active rather than reactive.
"Parents need to lay the important relationship groundwork when children are young," she said. "If they do that, they will still have challenges, but they will have made deposits in their child's emotional bank account that will pay big dividends later."
The most important aspects of a counselor's job are vision, passion and strong work ethic, Moore said.
"Stephen Covey tells us to begin with the end in mind, so we have to picture what we want to have happen for children and worry about the details later," she said. "You have to be passionate about guiding children, and the work can be demanding and exhausting, but I've never done anything more rewarding in my life."
Moore and her husband Gary have two grown children, Chelsey and Adam, and they are expecting their first grandchild.
"We love to travel and experience new things, and now that we're retired, we want to slow down, but not too much," she said. "I think some professional occupation will emerge for me -- I've learned a lot from kids and families that I'd like to use, but I'm not sure what form that will take yet."
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