A blog post from SOLES MA in Counseling, School Counseling PPS Credential, Ambassador, Carolyn Jercinovich
98 days. As I write this blog post, that is exactly how many days I have until I graduate from USD and SOLES. At first, that seemed like a pretty long time to me, but then I did the math to see what I was doing 98 days ago and realized that it is going to go by in the blink of an eye. So naturally, I have started to reminisce on the past almost year and a half in this program.
My time as a SOLES graduate student has been nothing short of a whirlwind, in the best way possible. I went into my program knowing that I would learn, be challenged, and grow, but now I realize that I have done all of these in ways that I did not expect. I have learned not only about what it means to be a school counselor, but I have also learned an incredible amount about myself – my strengths, my capabilities, my values, and my challenges. I have grown in my knowledge and skills as a counselor-in-training, but also as a person in the ways I see the world and the people around me. For someone who really loves to have a plan and for that plan to go as expected, I absolutely embrace the adventure that graduate school has been, for it has prepared me for a counseling career that will undoubtedly also be full of unexpected twists and turns.
So as I look forward to these next 98 days – days that I am sure will be full of even more learning and growing – my goal is to be very intentional about appreciating every single one of them. Carpe diem – it might be cliché, but it is absolutely how I want to spend the rest of graduate school and, while I am at it, the rest of my life.