Meet the new LTHS counselor for last names A through E: from jumping off cliffs to climbing up waterfalls, is Mrs. Hall secretly a superhero?
Besides healing emotions and creating new schedules, Hall’s superpowers serve as her sidekick in her journey from Georgia to Texas.
“I lived in Atlanta, Georgia,” Hall said. “That’s my home, so I was born and raised in Atlanta. All of my family is in Atlanta; all of my husband’s family is in Atlanta. So, we only have one aunt that is here, but she’s in Wichita Falls. We’re basically here by ourselves.”
Hall believes her and her husband’s involvement with the community eased the settlement process within Texas, and helped their family find common ground with new faces.
“My husband, he has found his fraternity brothers for his fraternity, and I’ve found my sorority sisters,” Hall said.”And so, we were able to find like-minded activities and people.”
She’s found a newfound independence in Texas, but has left the comfortability of home in Georgia, where family is lined up to see her.
“When I’m in Georgia, everybody is coming to see me, everybody is doing stuff like taking me to lunch and dinner,” Hall said.
She’s also left her previous occupation as an English teacher behind in Georgia.
“I was a high school English teacher, and then I went to teach special [education] at a middle school,” Hall said. “As an English teacher, my favorite class was English 4 and English Literature.”
So far, she’s gotten an introduction to the school and the staff members who work alongside her.
“I was here — the counselors were here– about a week and a half before the teachers came back,” Hall said. “The counselors and the admin were here, so I was able to meet them. We had lunch and then we just worked that whole week and a half so I got to know all of them. Now with school starting, we had a big meeting and so I was introduced to the school [and] to all of the teachers.”
Hall prefers students contact her via email or the counselor google form if they want to set up an appointment.
“The best way is the sign up from the QR Code, but you can always email, and say ‘Hey, can I come see you?’ or ‘Can i get an appointment?’ and I’ll email back and say, ‘Come during mega lunch’ or ‘Come in the morning [or] come in the afternoon,”‘ Hall said. “But if they need something right away, I’ll send for them immediately.”
Hall has set up her office in such a way in which students can come in and take a rest or a breather.
“Even if you just want to come in and sit, not talk, but you just need five minutes to get yourself together or something,” Hall said. “That’s what I want to make my office look like, so that you can have your own space.”
Aside from assisting students, Hall participates in activities of her own.
“I like to read,” Hall said. “Recently, I’ve been doing more Audible, having it read to me, because I can multitask while I’m listening to it. I also like to hangout with my friends, and go to brunch. Brunch is my big thing. [We] hangout, we go to brunch, we talk, we go shopping. Yes, so just that kind of stuff. I like to go on adventures. I have jumped off a cliff in Jamaica. I jumped off a cliff into the ocean, and then I climbed waterfalls.”
Hall has several goals for the new school year, but by the end of the school year, she hopes to become acclimated with scheduling and the counselor system.
“I want to be a listening ear for my students,” Hall said. “I want to know that they are open to coming to me. That I have an open door is my goal… I can always be available to them. Even if I can’t at the moment, I’ll always follow up with them so that they can know that I’m here for them.”
Mrs. Hall’s superpowers are not limited to just adventure. Though she might not wear a cape, she embodies a superhero in the world of counseling.
