“I gained a lot of experience with kids, before I went there I was like oh, they (the fifth graders) are so mature, but they are not and you learn how to teach them and cope with other people.” Emily Rinaca explains as she says why being a counselor at Harford glen was beneficial, and so much more than just teaching kids.

Each year students have the opportunity to counsel fifth graders at Harford glen. Different groups of students go different weeks throughout the year to counsel. The group that went the week of November 9th through the 12th, included seniors April Jones, Olivia Ebey, Clair Macatee and junior Emily Rinaca, and sophomores Maggie Gann and Lizzy Fenner. There was also another counselor, Alex Wardle, from Aberdeen high school. The fifth graders they counseled were from Jarrettsville and Joppa town elementary school.

There has been many changes to Harford glen as a whole. Ruth Eisenhour is the head of  Harford glen. “The BIGGEST change is that we went from an overnight program to a day program.  The fifth graders are here from approximately 9:30am to 6pm for two days in a row.  The high school counselors volunteer from 8:30am to 6:15pm. This change is due to HCPS budget cuts.  We hope that the overnight portion of the program will be fully funded in the near future, but that is up to the Superintendent and the Board of Education.” says Eisenhour.

Students must apply to be a counselor, Mrs. Laura O’leary is in charge of coordinating the applications. “You have to get your parent signature, you had to sign it, then you had to take it to your guidance counselor and then they had to write your gpa, and sign off on it” said Rinaca. According to O’leary in order to be accepted students must have a satisfactory gpa.

When the counselors get to Harford glen, they receive paperwork they must go over that lists information about activities, and their schedule. Counselors are also given a tour in the beginning of their first day of the whole Harford glen, and then are explained to about what they need to teach.

The group of counselors went for four days and each day they rotated, switching the subjects they were teaching. “I taught about if streams are healthy or not, the forensic study of dead birds, how to use binoculars, and feeder frenzy” says Rinaca.

The typical layout of the day for a counselor starts with the counselors getting there at about eight thirty, the elementary schoolers arrive at nine through ten forty-five. The counselors have a lesson and activity planned out, they will take some groups of kids outside to explore the Harford glen campus and to see animals and plants. Then everyone has lunch, and after lunch they have a hands on activity. Then for the rest of the day until five pm they have more lessons and activities. Then depending on what day it is they have a campfire in the evening. “It’s an all day thing for the kids” says Rinaca.

“It is a good experience and a fun time and even though you miss school, you still learn stuff, so it’s not like you are learning boring stuff, it’s actually interesting about the environment and compost, that doesn’t seem interesting, but it actually is” explains Rinaca as why students should be a counselor in the years to come.

Eisenhour also would like to encourage students to be counselors. “We have two-day and four-day sessions in the fall, winter, and spring, so there are many opportunities for high school students to participate.  This volunteer opportunity is a wonderful way to give back to the HCPS community and it also looks great on a college or job application.  It is one of the few chances for students from different high schools to work TOGETHER as one team rather than competing against each other.  It is also terrific for students considering a career in education or the environment.” she says.