School Counselor Academy
2023 School Counselor Academy
November 9-10, 2023
Registration:
NSCA Members: $180 thru October 23rd ($200 after October 23rd)
Non-Members: $210 thru October 23rd ($220 after October 23rd)
NO Registration Accepted after October 31st
NO On-site Registration
Credit/Debit Card Required for Payment of Registration
REGISTER HERE
Non-Members: $210 thru October 23rd ($220 after October 23rd)
NO Registration Accepted after October 31st
NO On-site Registration
Credit/Debit Card Required for Payment of Registration
REGISTER HERE
Hotel Information:
Holiday Inn Kearney
Rate = $124.95+taxes
Hotel Reservations:
Call 308-237-5971 (Ask for NSCA Group Rate)
Or
Online Reservations for Group Rate
Thursday Keynote: Geoff Heckman
Geoff Heckman is a school counselor and counseling department chair at Platte County High School in Platte City, MO, an ASCA RAMP school, and an adjunct instructor for Missouri Baptist University. He has been a school counselor for 20 years counseling at both the middle and high school levels. He is a Past President for the Missouri School Counselor Association and was selected as Missouri's School Counselor of the Year in 2017, and was an ASCA School Counselor of the Year Finalist in 2018. Most recently he served on the ASCA Board of Directors and was the 2022-23 Board Chair.
Friday Keynote: Nic van Oss
Nic van Oss is the SEL Services Coordinator at the St. Croix River Education District in Minnesota. He is the lead author of the free Be Good People SEL curriculum, a project that started during the first week of COVID lockdown and is now used across the globe. Nic began his career as a paraprofessional in a residential behavior program and spent several years of his career as a School Psychologist facilitating SEL groups at a K-12 behavior program. He is passionate about every school growing an efficient Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that lightens educator workloads, increases self-efficacy, and gets every student the support they need, when they need it.
Breakout Sessions
| SESSION TITLE | TOPIC | PRESENTER(S) |
| 5 Keys to Unlock a Compassionate Classroom | Resources to teach compassion, empathy and a growth mindset | Jacky Marino |
| Advocated for and Empower Foster and Adoptive Families | Supporting families formed through foster care and adoption | Brooke Hagenau |
| Advocating for Restorative Practices in Your School | Positive impacts of restorative practices in schools | Erika Mardock |
| All About ASCA | Learn about ASCA's many resources including position statements, research reports, toolkits and much more | Jill Cook, ASCA Executive Director |
| All Eyes Are on the Unicameral | Advocacy and critical Nebraska legislation that could significantly impact school counseling | Doug Hauserman |
| ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success | Implementation and practical use of the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors | Rachel Catlett |
| Better FAFSA | All about the changes coming to the FAFSA in 2024-25 | Jodi Vanden Berge |
| Building Elementary School Counseling with ASCA | Advocating for and building an elementary school counseling program based on the ASCA National Model | Lori Hemmett |
| Building Wellbeing and Equity with ARCCH | Trauma informed practice using an evidence-based multisystemic resilience framework | Jan Powers and Audel Salazar |
| Connecting Students to Careers | Overview of TradeGamz social media type of platform for career exploration and planning | Bo Jones |
| CTSOs: Leading the Way with Learning, Earning & Living | Supporting Career and Technical Student Organization sponsors and the relationship between organizations | Mary Janssen |
| Digital Impact Awareness and Guidance | Best practices to assist students with better digital: citizenship, literacy, privacy and navigation | Jay Martin |
| Elkhorn Public Schools Career Exploration | Comprehensive approach to career exploration | Desiree Marrihew |
| Everyone's an Asset Builder | 40 developmental internal and external assets | Erika Wibbels and Cody Talarico |
| Growing the Teacher Pipeline | Empowering high school students to become educators | Miranda Bright |
| Hope and Re-Entry | Re-entry plans and suicide prevention using the Hope Squad | Toi Riggs and Jennifer Cattnach |
| How I Lost Over Half My Student F's in One Quarter Using Data | Using data, Excel spreadsheets and Pivot Tables to reduce student F's on your caseload | Don Ferree and Kathryn McQueen |
| Increasing Student Attendance: Data, Strategies and Family Engagement | Research based interventions and family engagement strategies to impact attendance rates | Donna Hoffman and Brian Welch |
| Kindness Ambassadors - What You Need to Know | Starting a Kindness Ambassador Program - includes lesson plans and practical ideas | Martha-Jane Matthews |
| Mindfulness/Meditation Session: Self-Care Participation/Discussion | Self-care, moving beyond discussion to practical application | Brandon Shostak |
| Mission: Mental Health | Lakeview Community Schools successful initiative to boost staff morale and prevent burnout | Mollie Rambour, Paige Rambour and Miranda Hellbusch |
| Preparing Students for Learning, Earning and Living | High-quality Career and Technical Education programs and Nebraska's future workforce development | Sydney Kobza |
| Proactive Support for Students Following a Suicide Related Absence | Re-entry support for students and staff following a suicide incident | Kim Jacobsen and Sally Carlson |
| Re-igniting Health, Happiness, and Hope (an "8 to Great" program) | A look into a proven Social Emotional and Behavior Learning program | Michael Garcia |
| Reigniting Your Purpose: Exploring Self-Care Strategies to Prevent Burnout | Revisit your professional purpose and create a personal self-care plan | Kathryn Hecht-Weber and Suzanne Scott |
| Responding to a Crisis Event in Your School | Crisis response that is based on research and best practices | Kelly O'Toole, Shannon Fischer and Lachelle Zuhlke |
| School Counselors Strengthening Each Other | Share your concerns, issues and strategies as you learn from each other | Tami Wegener |
| Steps to College: Familly Engagement Sessions | College-going process and empowering families to become for confident in the process | Kristin Ageton, Kim Brown, Chelsey Karlin and guest school counselors |
| Student Tutoring: Uplifting the Community | Student to student peer tutoring in middle and high school | Bethany Seehusen and Guadalupe Marino |
| The Susan T. Buffett Foundation Scholarship | Buffett Scholarship - changes to the application, common mistakes and supporting students who apply | Bianca Bautista |
| A Theatrical Approach to Mental Health Prevention | Using Theatrical based-activities and role play to address mental health, bullying, and social emotional concerns | Patricia Newman |
| Therapy Dogs in Schools | Ins and outs of bringing a therapy dog into your school building | Megan Kuhn |
| Unlocking the Future: Practical AI Applications for School Counselors in Nebraska | Using Artificial Intelligence to your benefit as a school counselor | Thang Tran |
| What's New with Nebraska Career Connections | New tools and enhanced admin experience on Nebraska Career Connections | John Milroy, Kuder INC |
| Which Pension Option Will You Choose and Why? | Educator's Retirement Decision | Brian Luther |
| Workforce Development Advisement Input | Learn about future workforce needs and share the school counselor prospective on career development with the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry | Jim Sutfin |
Platinum Sponsors
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