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Counseling Online Students
Alicia Bixby, MU High School Counselor
If you were part of a family with school-aged children, and you decided to sail around the world, how would you continue your children’s education on the boat? Online of course! This may sound like a unique situation, but in fact, I currently am working with my fifth family who is sailing around the world.
Alicia Bixby, MU High School Counselor,
MU High School Graduation
The reasons students choose to complete high school online are many and varied. Some students are training for the Olympics in skating or skiing; some are training in competitive tennis or barrel racing. A few are actors with their own TV shows. Some students are outside the USA, because their parents are in the military, are missionaries or work for oil companies. Exactly how does online counseling differ from the face to face work a high school counselor does in a brick and mortar school? What are the guidance needs of an online student?
It has been my experience in more than 10 years as an online counselor that my students, though they live in all 50 states and a few dozen foreign countries, need the very same things that all high school students need from any professional school counselor: Guidance Curriculum, Individual Planning, Responsive Services and System Support. In our school the guidance curriculum is provided by courses such as Personal Development and Character Education, Career Planning, and Personal Finance.
Students typically need to discuss their individual plan for graduation. I check to make sure the courses meet the student’s particular graduation requirements and then approve them for processing. A short time ago, a girl whose parents are missionaries in Sri Lanka called to talk to me about her final graduation requirements, and a young woman in her 20’s living in the Philippines emailed me for the same reason.
Not all of the questions that I get are about individual planning; I also get questions that would fall under responsive services. Students may need a solution to a specific problem, or may just need encouragement. Online students have the same needs as face to face students.
Have questions about attending an online high school?
Contact MU High and talk to Alicia!