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Editor’s note: Our guest blogger today is Kwok-Sze Wong. He is the executive director of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), which represents more than 28,000 school counselors across the nation. ASCA expands the image and influence of professional school counselors through advocacy, leadership, collaboration and systemic change. It also empowers professional school counselors with the knowledge, skills, linkages and resources to promote student success in the school, the home, the community and the world. ASCA is a member of the Learning First Alliance.

Sandy Austin, a school counselor at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, Colo., has seen her share of crises. As a member of the crisis team that worked with students and parents in Columbine in the wake of the shootings, Sandy knew students couldn’t focus on school until they could deal with their grief from this devastating tragedy. She also saw the strength and compassion students have and how important that compassion can be in helping others heal. To give students a way to help those in need, Sandy formed the BIONIC Team – Believe It Or Not I Care. Students in the group reach out to others to provide support when they experience a death, illness or other hardship in their lives. During the past six years, the BIONIC Team has reached more than 38,000 people, and more than 400 schools worldwide have shown interest in starting similar programs. 

Terry Malterre, a school counselor at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, and TeShaunda L. Hannor-Walker, Ph.D., the school counselor at Northside Elementary School in Albany, Ga., may be separated by a continent and an ocean, but they are connected by many similarities. They both work at schools with a high percentage of low-income and underserved students. They both noticed that many of their students were failing because of high absenteeism, so they instituted home visit programs to involve families in learning. And they both found that ...