2 Jun 2009
Seagoville High School Counselor Stands Out in Profession
DALLAS—The Dallas ISD named Verbeana Hatton, counselor at Seagoville High School, as the 2008-2009 School Counselor of the Year.
A former Teacher of the Year for 2002-2003, Hatton has been a school counselor for five years, four of those years have been at Seagoville High School. Hatton taught for nine years at Florence Middle School before deciding to pursue a career as a school counselor.
"I was one of those teachers who saw the counselors in their offices all the time. I thought they didn't do anything," said Hatton. "I thought to myself, I'm going to become a counselor and change the world. I couldn't have been more wrong. There was so much work to do that I had to apologize to other counselors for thinking they didn't work."
Hatton is seen by the staff as a workaholic who is on a mission to help kids.
"For Verbeana, counseling is not a Monday through Friday, nine to five job," said Seagoville High School principal Jeff Baker. "She organizes week-end field trips and attends many extracurricular activities. Both parents and students know they can call her 24/7."
Hatton says her goal as a counselor is to educate the students and their parents about the millions of opportunities that exist. "Whether students choose college, the military or the workforce, I want each of them to graduate with a plan of action for their future and complete the necessary steps to bring those plans to fruition. I also want parents to see me as a resource. I'm a parent and I know what it feels like when you don't even know what questions to ask," said Hatton.
For Hatton, the greatest reward of being a high school counselor is seeing her students graduate. "I get to see the end results and see them walk across the stage. I get to cheer with them and for them when they receive their acceptance letters and scholarships. It is a very stressful job, but one that I would do for free if I had the financial ability to do so," said Hatton.
More than 40 school counselors were nominated by their principals for School Counselor of the Year. An Outstanding School Counselor was selected for each learning community. Hatton was selected as the 2009 School Counselor of the Year from among the seven Outstanding School Counselors.
Outstanding School Counselors representing the learning communities are:
The sixth belief adopted by the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees is: "we believe that engaged parents and guardians impact a student's academic and personal development."
For a complete list of core beliefs, visit the Web site at http://www.dallasisd.org/about/vision.htm.