Hayward High School’s Counselors: The Journey of Their Start

By Atasha Mazon

As Hayward High School begins a new year, teachers and students are getting ready for the academic stress they’ve been mentioning by using slang words like “Sophomore slump”, “Senioritists”, and so on. However, it isn’t just the students adjusting to the end of the summer and the start of the year; the counselors are in their busiest time, handling every student’s schedule and working to balance classes. The counselors of Hayward High School are Mr. Gonsalves (AVID), Mr. Gavino (PUENTE), Mrs. Allen-Marshall, Mrs. Sanchez, and Mrs. Ware. With their care in putting their students on the right track and prioritizing students getting off to a good start, counselors combined have collectively seen 978 students in the first week alone.

Counselors play a big role at school, as it can be filled with conflicts and long days on the screen; however, there’s beauty in their hard work, persistence, and determination. “The most memorable experience has been watching students thrive in a very stressful situation, but still be able to communicate effectively and advocate for themselves with respect,” said Mrs. Marshall. Having their office as their surroundings and the constant students being in the room has been a memorable experience for Mr. Gavino, “A memorable experience is getting many compliments from students about my new office!”

While counselors jobs involve communication and coordination, most counselors admit that their experiences have been stressful due to having little to no breaks. Dealing with high school students can be a lot– Mrs. Marshall (the new counselor this year) has said it’s not been stressful for her, just extremely tiring. While the counselors go through their hectic parts of the day, one thing that is for sure is that they make sure that ALL students get the support they need. Even though it’s not fun for high schoolers, especially for juniors and seniors. “We don’t mind working hard for students, but it’s no fun having to remind some students that our school’s schedule change policies are very strict,” said Mr. Gonsalves.

Hayward High School counselors continue to show us their determination to set their students on the right track for this year. Whether it’s helping seniors with their credits or college applications, they’ll be here to support us all.