Elizabeth O’Connor Receives Maryland School Counselor of the Year Award

The Maryland School Counselor Association is pleased to announce that Elizabeth O’Connor of Howard County, Glenwood Middle School has been recognized as the Maryland School Counselor of the Year by the Maryland School Counselor Association. Professional school counselors from across the state were nominated for their school counseling innovations and exemplary comprehensive school counseling programs. The nominees were evaluated by esteem evaluators that represent Maryland parents, school administrators, school system superintendent, school counselors and teachers. They carefully reviewed the nominations and identified three level-specific school counselor of the year finalist: HS- Jillian Hoffman, MS-Elizabeth O’Connor and ES-Constance Johnson based on several criteria, including, leadership and advocacy initiatives and contributions to student outcomes.

Elizabeth O’Connor was nominated by a school counselor school system leader, citing her advocacy for her students, dedication to closing the achievement gap in her school and leadership in the school counseling profession as exceptional. Ms. O’Connor works hard to develop, manage, implement and evaluate the comprehensive school counseling program at Glenwood Middle School. She is a member of the leadership team and through her use of data is instrumental with identifying interventions to close the academic achievement gap. Her work has resulted in a more positive school climate, with reduction of office referrals for students of color and increase in positive reinforcement evidence based interventions to proactively assist students with making the best choices in school.  Ms. O’Connor uses data to help create systemic change to benefit all students in her school.  Finally, Ms.O’Connor is an essential part of the school community, she led a small team of four to create a new program to track data and train staff. This small group then recruited additional staff members to join the PBIS team to implement positive behavior interventions to identify ways to positively support student’s behavior.

Constance Johnson, from William B. Wade Elementary School in Charles County, was selected as the Elementary School Counselor of the Year for Maryland. Ms. Johnson’s school counseling program promotes equity and access to opportunities for all students in the school. She seeks to make a difference for students by advocating for my time, collaborating with school staff to deliver services, and leading initiatives to create systemic change and speaking against injustice and racism.

Howard County, Howard High School Counselor, Jillian Hoffman was selected as the Maryland High School Counselor of the Year. Ms. Hoffman committed to her students can be seen in her participation in her school community.  Ms. Hoffman serves on the school improvement team, she has participated in the development of the school counseling curriculum and is currently an instructional team leader in her school for school counseling. Ms. Kelly Ruby, district school counseling leader describe Ms. Hoffman, as, “exceptional in leadership and advocacy.”

The Maryland School Counselor Association will formally honor these professionals at its National School Counseling Week first ever virtual gala on Friday, March 19, 2021 at 6pm on our Facebook Live Page. At this event, the association will also recognize, Administrator of the Year Jason Barnett (Relay Elementary School, Baltimore County), the Advocate of the Year, Dr. Amalio Nieves, Executive Director Department of Social-Emotional Support 

Baltimore County Public Schools for Baltimore County Public Schools, School Counselor Educator of the Year, Dr. Cynthia Taylor (Bowie State University), Graduate Student of the Year James Harris (Bowie State University) and Kathleen Klecan of, Brunswick Elementary School (Frederick County Public Schools) for the development, management, implementation and evaluation of a Recognized ASCA Model Program.

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The Maryland School Counselor Association is a professional association that provides opportunities for professional development, networking, and advocacy for the state’s public and private school counselors, as well as school counseling graduate students and counselor educators. School counselors plan and implement a needs-oriented, data-driven comprehensive program using foundation, management, delivery, and accountability components that support all students’ academic, career, and social-emotional development. The Maryland School Counselor of the Year will be nominated for the national School Counselor of the Year, managed by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). National School Counseling Week, February 1-5, 2021, is an annual event to recognize and celebrate the efforts and value of school counselors and the work that school counselors do to support all students.