Graduate student ready to begin new job as school counselor
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| Chase Walding |
University of Houston-Victoria graduate student Chase Walding will begin a new career in August as a school counselor at St. Anthony Catholic High School in San Antonio.
Walding, who will graduate with a master’s degree in counseling from UHV this summer, just completed his final internship at Clear Lake High School, where he taught special education.
“I’m really excited about my career at St. Anthony’s,” he said. “It’s my first real counseling job, so I’m a little nervous, but thanks to my internships, I know I’m ready to get started and see what I can do.”
Clear Lake High School is the largest high school in Texas to receive an exemplary rating from the Texas Education Agency and employs five full-time counselors. Walding said the fast-paced environment and high demand of his internship proved invaluable.
“Working in a top-quality school was a great experience,” he said. “The counselors there are dedicated; they take their work home with them. I learned a lot about what it takes to handle that type of work load. It was great to work with them.”
Walding, a resident of Webster, also has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, but he’s always known he wanted to be a counselor.
“I love what counselors do?that one-on-one environment,” Walding said. “They do more than just help you get ready for college; they help students with emotional issues. I think that’s the most interesting part of this career.”
His new position at St. Anthony will be a significant change from his former position as a case manager at the Mental Health Cooperative in downtown Houston. MHC is a permanent home for patients suffering from severe mental illness, and Walding confronted everything from schizophrenia to bipolar disease.
“That was a completely different experience,” he said. “It was very demanding working with those kinds of patients, but I learned so much, and I know it will help me in the future. I’m glad I chose to work there, and I’m glad I chose the counseling program at UHV. I’d recommend it to anyone. The staff is so knowledgeable, and they really want you to succeed.”
The UHV Outstanding Student is an online feature highlighting the exceptional students who attend the University of Houston-Victoria. To nominate a student, contact UHV Communications Manager Paula Cobler or call 361-570-4350
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
