History of NWMSCA

The Northwest Missouri School Counselor Association has been serving the school counseling profession of Northwest Missouri for over thirty years. As an integral component of the Missouri School Counselor Association, (American School Counselor Association nationwide), the Northwest district has had a rich history. Although some of the early records have been lost, we do know a lot about its past.

The founding of the organization came in the late 1950's after a few Northwest area school counselors attended a state counseling conference and were encouraged to start a district organization. Some of the early counselor leaders included: Helen Gorsuch, Oren Miller, Harold Ashbaugh, Georgia Hash, Mary Hash, Betty Wilson, Bob Stinson, Bob Moran, Wayne Winstead, Courtney Goforth, Kay Whitney, Virginia Brown and Jane Pertain. Meetings during those early years were almost exclusively held after school. The meetings were held at an area school or restaurant. Some of the restaurant locations in St. Joseph included the St. Francis Hotel, the Shangri-La, and the Circle W. The organization usually met two or three times a year. Sometimes an area college would host an open house for association members. A major topic of discussion in the early years as well as today, is accountability.

In the early 1970's, the district was split into two districts: Northwest and St. Joseph. At that time, there were only 50 members in the Northwest organization. They worked closely with Dr. Zillner at NWMSU and one of their accomplishments was holding a combined meeting with the Northwest Missouri State Teachers Association.

In the 1980's, Northwest Missouri Guidance Association changed to the current name, the Northwest Missouri School Counselors Association, to reflect the state and national organization names. Meetings in the 1980's were held at Platte College, Missouri Western State College, Tarkio College and Trenton Junior College. Area colleges and agencies also sponsored "Counselor Days" for Northwest Counselors. Program topics focused on a wide variety of topics, such as: ACT testing, alcoholism, art therapy, college planning, teen pregnancy and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Issues such as: Counseling ethics, counseling certification and licensure, crisis intervention teams, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, counselor shortage and the prevention of violence, have taken us from the 80's into the 90's.

Highlights of the 90's have been:

* Connie Miller's work with TASK (Take Action for Safe Kids) brought statewide awareness to the subject of domestic violence.

* Crisis teams have been developed throughout our district.

* A mentoring program for new counselors has been added to help meet the needs of our colleagues.

* Northwest established an Advocacy committee in November of 1995.

* Jon Hixon and several counselor educators wrote a draft recommending that special education-related coursework be dropped, so as to lower the number of hours needed for counselor certification.

* In November of 1997, NWMSCA helped to celebrate MSCA's 50th year of school counseling at the fall conference at Tan-Tar-A.

* In 1999 Deb Petrick, counselor from Gilman City was a national winner in the Planning for Life Program

The many changes in society and the educational system have challenged the counseling profession to become better equipped to meet the needs of students in our schools today. We continue to prepare for the new millennium by looking at issues such as: projected counselor shortage; guidance-privacy issues for Missouri School Improvement; the widespread use of the drug, methamphetamine, and the effects on our community and school populations; the Safe Schools Act; providing necessary training to prepare students for careers in the 21st century through the School to Work program; continued requests for additional crisis training for counselors; and the development of the Performance Based Counselor Evaluation.

The Northwest Governing Board meets monthly to plan district meetings, prepare the district newsletter, encourage support for legislative issues, and keep district members abreast of MSCA and ASCA conferences and workshops.

A major highlight each year at one of the district meetings, is the announcement of the District Counselor of the Year Award, and the Distinguished Service Award. Some of the recipients of the awards in recent years have been: Connie Miller, Judy Fuston, Charles Shouse, Dean Sparks, Richard Demarest, Jean Johnson, Suzanne Lehr, Rita Poppa, Okie Rose, Donna Pile, Judi Bloss, Maureen Lager, Larry Markt, Dorothy Silvey, Alice Osborn, Joann Olsen, Joyce Maudlin, Chris Danford, Edd Green, Mike Thomson, Linda Peterson, Gene Teeter, Terri Johnson and Sandy White.

The Northwest district has also been honored by having eight counselors receive the MSCA Counselor of the Year Award. These include: Jean Johnson, Connie Miller, Judy Fuston, Suzanne Lehr, Rita Poppa, Alice Osborn, Mike Thomson, JoAnn Olson, Gene Teeter and Sandy White.

Bob Berger, MWSC, was presented The Conspicuous Award in the fall of 1995 by Missouri Governor, Mel Carnahan.

Through the years, many Northwest members have demonstrated their leadership skills, not only on the district level, but also have excelled at the state level. Northwest members who have served as MSCA officers and committee chairpersons include: Oren Miller, Helen Gorsuch, Virginia Brown, Jean Johnson, Brenda Costin, Mike Thomson, Judy Fuston, John Michael, Diana Cooper, Mark Hargens, Sherris Hane and Shelly Hiatt.

NWMSCA has not only had a proud past, but has a bright future. Our challenge is to continue to make our organization a friendly and helpful gathering of school counselors - a challenge we hope to always meet as we celebrate life.

Updated history by Susan Jackson & Sylvia Summers, February, 2000



St. Joseph District Presidents:

1971 - 74 Betty Wilson

1974 - 75 Bob Moran

NWMSCA Presidents:

1970 - 71 Virginia Brown

1971 - 72 Harold Frazee

1972 - 73 Jim Polsey

1973 - 74 Ron Murawski

1974 - 75 Gay Dittemore

1975 - 76 Linda Goodwin

1976 - 77 Larry Heaps

1977 - 78 Twila Anders

1978 - 79 Dean Sparks

1979 - 80 Teresa Klein

1980 - 81 Herschel Owen

1981 - 82 Ann Peterson

1982 - 83 Anita Imler

1983 - 84 Ron Jacques

1984 - 85 Connie Miller

1985 - 86 Diana Cooper

1986 - 87 Jerry Batson

1987 - 88 Mike Thomson

1988 - 89 Brenda Costin

1989 - 90 Judy Fuston

1990 - 91 Richard Demarest

1991 - 92 Suzanne Lehr

1992 - 93 Edd Green

1993 - 94 Gene Teeter

1994 - 95 Naomi White

1995 - 96 Okie Rose

1996 - 97 Linda Goodwin

1997 - 98 Dorothy Silvey

1998 - 99 Sherris Hane

1999 - 00 Joni Rost

2000 - 01 Linda Crowder

2001 - 02 Sandy White

2002 - 03 Alice Osborn

2003 - 04 Annette Brown

2004 - 05 Kay Cameron

2005 - 06 Cami Aebersold

2006 – 07 Jennifer Grossman

2007 - 08 Chris Danford

2008 - 09 Michelle Veasey

2009 - 10 Sharon Evans

2010 - 11 Kim Hill