Lincoln Elementary earns recognition for counseling program

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The American School Counselor Association  recently designated Lincoln Elementary School in Charles City with Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) designation.

The school will be honored during a special ceremony at the ASCA’s annual conference for making an exemplary commitment to its  school counseling programs.

Scotti Hagensick, counselor at Lincoln, said that only two schools in Iowa received the recognition this year, and there are “only about a half dozen schools in the entire state of Iowa with this designation.”

“Scotti took the initiative in documenting the work she was doing with students, with classroom teachers and with the different processes and procedures within our building,” said Lincoln Principal Marcia DeVore. “She showed the committee that we were operating at high levels of success at Lincoln Elementary within our school counseling program.”

Hagensick, who is in her fourth year of counseling in the Charles City School District, said RAMP designation is for individual school buildings that work toward building a comprehensive counseling program that is operating at a high level with all stakeholders.

She said it means that the ASCA recognizes that the Lincoln counseling program is using data to identify student needs and is doing everything it can to meet the academic, career, social and emotional needs of all kids.

“Even though I’m the only counselor at Lincoln, I have a really good counseling team among the district,” Hagensick said. “The Lincoln and middle school staff have always been so supportive of the program.”

Before this school year, Hagensick worked part time at Lincoln and part time at Charles City Middle School. This year she moved to full time at Lincoln.

“I feel so blessed to have Scotti working with our students and staff at Lincoln,” DeVore said. “She has a huge heart, she is incredibly reliable and she does a fantastic job of supporting students to find ways to become advocates for themselves.”

DeVore explained that the ASCA sets criteria for what it feels would be an exemplary school counseling program within a building, and the school earns the RAMP recognition by demonstrating competency in meeting the criteria. She said that Hagensick stands out as a counselor.

“She doesn’t go in and solve their problems for them. She helps them figure out what they need to be doing to handle these situations,” DeVore said. “She equips them well for the future.”

The ASCA stated in a release that this year just 78 schools nationwide received RAMP designation.

Since the program’s inception, nearly 1,000 schools have been designated as RAMP recipients, according to the ASCA. Lincoln will be designated as a RAMP school for five years, and can re-apply for designation after that.

“This year’s RAMP honorees have shown their commitment to students and the school counseling profession,” said Jill Cook, ASCA assistant director. “These schools used data to drive their program development and implementation so all students can achieve success. RAMP designation distinguishes these schools and encourages school counselors nationwide to strive for excellence.”

Hagensick and her husband are parents to 6-week-old twin girls and 2-year-old twin boys. She said she appreciates the support she receives in Charles City.

“I have such good colleagues to work with,” Hagensick said. “I’m really proud to work for a school where we’re always so collaborative and trying to always do what’s best for kids. It’s so exciting to be a counselor for a district like Charles City.”