Kanawha County Schools: KCS Welcomes WVU Graduate Students To Kanawha County For Counselor-In-Residence Internships

Press release from Kanawha County Schools:

12/08/2021

“West Virginia University is excited and honored to work with Kanawha County schools to address the shortage of school counselors and mental health support for students,” said Chris Schimmel, Associate Professor/Associate Department Chair at West Virginia University. “The WVU/Kanawha County Schools partnership demonstrates Kanawha County's commitment to support students' mental health needs and supports WVU's land grant mission to serve the state of West Virginia. WVU looks forward to continuing this program well into the future.”

"We are thrilled to host these promising young professionals here in our district and intend to provide an enriching internship experience that will allow each to grow in their school counseling skills and competence,” said Jon Duffy, Kanawha County Schools Director of Counseling & Testing. “Given the educator shortage affecting Kanawha County and West Virginia, it is the hope of KCS for these students to find Kanawha County such a great place to live, work & play that they decide to stay!”

West Virginia University professors working with the partnership, Dr. Boulden and Dr. Schimmel, have further described the partnership in an article submitted to the journal of the National Rural Education Association, available at https://journals.library.msstate.edu/index.php/ruraled/article/view/1237/953.

https://journals.library.msstate.edu/index.php/ruraled/article/view/1237/953

Allison Lampinen

Hometown: Buckhannon, WV

School Counselor in Residence at Weimer Elementary and St. Albans High School

Easton Berry

Hometown: Ripley, WV

School Counselor in Residence at Flinn Elementary and Sissonville High School 

Helena Garren

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA

School Counselor in Residence at Kenna Elementary and George Washington High School

Taylor Scott

Hometown: Hinton, WV

School Counselor in Residence at Cross Lanes Elementary and Nitro High School

Zoe Sampson

Hometown: Lewisburg, WV 

School Counselor in Residence at Bridge/Clendenin Elementary and Herbert Hoover High School

This press release was produced by Kanawha County Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.