Welcoming our brand-new school psychologist

Let’s welcome a new face to OM, Mrs. Laurie Downin! Our newest school psychologist may only be here on Mondays, but she is ready to accomplish big things within the high school this year. 

Though she has been in Howard County for 25 years, this is her big introduction to high school. On days she is not at OM, she is at Patuxent Valley Middle School, where she has taught since last year. She was formerly at two middle schools (including PVMS) before moving into high school. Her reason for the jump, as she said, was, “I wanted to know what high school was like.”

School psychology wasn’t always on the agenda for Mrs. Downin; she actually has a bachelor’s degree in communication and a minor in photography. She wanted to be an artist at first but, then decided to go back to school to become a school psychologist. According to her, “I knew I wanted to work with kids and in some sort of form of counseling.” Her love for working with people brought her into education, which is quite admirable! She also touched on how much she emotionally takes home as a school psychologist, “When kids have rough days or when families have rough times, it always weighs heavy on me,” she said. Being able to continue what she does on a daily basis, as well as being able to always help students, is truly inspirational.

Mrs. Downin’s life also consists of her family. Not only is she married, but she is also the mother to two boys and one girl, whom she loves spending time with. Her family has four non-humans: two cats and two dogs. “The cats don’t get along with one dog,” she laughed. In her free time, Mrs. Downin also enjoys spending time with her kids, going to the beach and the pool, as well as going to see her daughter play college softball.

If Mrs. Downin could describe herself in three words, they would be: caring, friendly, and determined. She laughed when describing herself as “friendly” saying, “I hope people see me as so!” And a little fun fact about Mrs. Downin is that if she could visit anywhere in the world, it would be Hawaiʻi. She cited “its beauty” as her reason.

Even though this is Mrs. Downin’s first year working in a high school, she hopes to accomplish many things, starting with learning her way around! Let’s make her year at OM one of the finest and best yet! Welcome to OM, Mrs. Downin!