News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The title of 2021 Tennessee School Counselor of the year belongs to Sycamore Elementary School Counselor Ally Evans.
Evans said that after a decade working in the Putnam County School System she was shocked at just being nominated. However, Evans said moving forward with her nomination was daunting but wanted to try since another counselor took the time to nominate her.
“Just the fact that I’m representing those counselors is an honor and a little bit of pressure as well,” Evans said. “Because you want to recognize the profession of school counseling in a positive way.”
Standing up and handling pressure is one of the many skills that Evans works day in and day out to instill in kids. She said the issues kids face have changed in her 10 years, but come from the same root causes.
“It all stems around just growing up as a human and how you’re going to handle what life gives you,” Evans said. “But I think life gives people 10 years ago trouble just like it does now. We’ve just got to figure out how to handle it.”
She said that’s why she works to help kids develop coping skills, conflict resolution and recognizing why people might disagree with each other. She said lately this can be an uphill battle in the age of social media.
“If they haven’t had any of that, they’re at such a disadvantage in their life when they grow up,” Evans said. “I’m not even sure that if they don’t get it when they’re young that they could even really master it as an adult.”
Evans said she and other counselors take this kind of education seriously, and emphasize its importance just like math or reading skills. She said that’s why she uses discipline referral data and research based curriculum to show how far owning their feelings can take them.
“You might not have the best grades and you might not have the most things going for you,” Evans said. “But if you can interview well, if you can handle a conflict at your job, if you can care or be kind to the people around you. I would debate and say that, that person would be more successful in life.”
Evans said her passion is teaching students how to solve and react to life’s hurdles. She said this is the time for kids when they are discovering who they are and are molding themselves into who they want to be.
