In the 2023-24 school year, Clark welcomes not one, but two new counselors to the office. Mrs. Johnson comes to Clark from Glendale High School. On a typical day, her calendar is filled with meetings, not only with teachers and board directors, but students as well. Since students have been one of Johnson’s top priorities even before becoming a counselor, she continues to make time for fellow attendees of GUSD schools.
Although it is Mrs. Johnson’s second year of being a counselor, it isn’t her second year of being a staff of GUSD. For the past two decades, she has been a teacher specialist at various schools including Toll Middle School. She was also a computer science counselor at Glendale High School, for their college academy. Her impressive resume also includes nearly a decade of teaching at Balboa Elementary School. Johnson realized that being a counselor was her calling, and she finds joy in helping students..
“I really wanted to be a teacher, and after 10 years I realized I wanted to make a bigger difference,” Johnson said. After leaving the classroom behind, she started providing different services to people and schools as a teacher specialist, in charge of the testing, the English learners, and the budget of the school. “I then realized I wanted to be a counselor when I got to Toll, and I loved to see the role of the counselors.” Within a few years as a teacher specialist at Toll, Mrs. Johnson began her Master’s program right then and there, to become a counselor.
Johnson has worked with various types of students in the entire district. She is excited to work with Clark students that typically have a reputation of being hardworking and very academically motivated. As someone with high expectations for herself, Mrs. Johnson could connect with Clark students on a more personal level, with similar goals and expectations.
Mrs. Johnson is excited to start the year off strong, and help students plan their classes and future.
