Dr. Walsh

I enjoyed a great opportunity last week at the LEAD 1 Leadership Institute through Chesterfield County at the University of Richmond. It was four days of learning, discussing, listening to speakers, exploring the campus and participating in great team-building exercises. I enjoyed being back in the school setting and working with employees from all different levels, schools and experience levels. It definitely made me miss school! It was one of my favorite professional development opportunities, and I am excited to use the things I learned in my new job.

On Wednesday night, I also attended a Ph.D. information session through VCU for their Counselor Education and Supervision doctoral program. I have been thinking about this program for a while, but never really felt quite ready to commit to it. After the session, though, OF COURSE I want to do it, but I am keeping an open mind and taking the process slow. I am registering to re-take the GRE in late summer (yup, even though I have already graduated from VCU’s Graduate School of Education and already taken the GRE, my scores are too “old”) and have ordered a practice book to study with. The application is due in December, and I am planning to take a course as a non-degree seeking student in the spring to make sure that I can handle the coursework with my job. My goal would be to finish in four years- so that would put me graduating around 2019 (!) with almost ten years of experience as a school counselor in the secondary setting.  Hopefully that experience coupled with the degree with make me a good candidate for college jobs! This plan commits me to staying in Richmond for a little longer than I was planning but will give me an even better opportunity to find work in another state or country. I also will have to tone down my traveling, which is my biggest concern, but as my mom said, I can still travel, but I won’t be taking 4-5 big trips a year L. I will be able to travel to professional conferences, which will still give me my fix (hopefully)!  No matter what, my life of leisure will surely take a hit! However, I have always wanted to work at the college level and being a professor has been in the back of my head for a long time, so this is an exciting prospect. As we all know, though, a lot can change in a year, and especially in four years, so we shall see where this all leads! But I am very excited about the possibility of pursuing my doctorate.

No other news on my end- I have been working at the pool a lot in addition to my regular job, but starting on Sunday, summer traveling begins with a full week trip to Duck, Outer Banks for the 4^th of July J!