A Little Guidance in Life

Abraxas I Guidance Counselors Help Set Students Up for Success

Do you ever think about the behind the scenes people who are so important that the ship would sink without them?
For Abraxas Marienville students those people are Dawn Hornburg and Charlie Scott, our Guidance Counselors.

Charlie has been with Abraxas for over 30 years with 12 of those as a Guidance Counselor and Dawn for 3 years. Together they are a Dynamic Duo. They do quite a number of things to help our students be successful. One of those things is that they develop a transcript for each student that is unique in nature in that it is accumulative. It not only tracks what a client does educationally while here at Abraxas I but anywhere and everywhere he or she has accrued credits. This includes past schools and placements if applicable. With an accumulative transcript, schedules can then be developed to provide classes that are required for the student to graduate. Charlie and Dawn also work with various Transition Specialists, not only in Pennsylvania but also in West Virginia and Washington, D.C., to ensure students are taking classes that are required by their home state or home school for graduation. Per Charlie, “Every transcript is developed with an eye toward transition”.

As a matter of fact, they do such an outstanding job that they will be presenting “Guidance and Child Find Services for 1306 Students (students in placement) at the Neglected and Delinquent Symposium the first week of November in Seven Springs, PA.

When asked what the most important impact of their jobs is, Dawn replied, “It is so important to send students back to their home school with all the credits that will help them graduate, they are in such a better position.” Charlie’s response was, “I like to think that we instill hope in our students. We let them know that there are options and alternatives and they are more than capable of doing things differently when they go home.”

The work that is accomplished in this little office tucked away in the Arlene Lissner High School is invaluable – thank you Dawn and Charlie for a job well done!