A Look Into the Newest Addition to the Student Services Team

“All that you change, changes you” is a well-known quote from science fiction author, Octavia Butler’s, Parable of the Sower. New to Oakland Mills, Mr. Scott, an avid enjoyer of the sci-fi genre – from books such as those by Octavia Butler, or movies like Star Trek – finds that quote to be particularly emblematic of his interactions with students during his 16 years as a counselor. 

A Maryland native, Mr. Scott grew up in Gaithersburg and obtained his undergraduate degree from The University of Maryland, College Park. Initially interested in becoming an urban planner, he decided to major in geography. After getting his degree, Mr. Scott joined the Peace Corps with his main project revolving around urban planning. Some friends of his working on a project with schools in Guatemala reached out to him for his support, and the fluent Spanish speaker discovered that working in schools was exactly where he wanted to be. 

After finishing his time in the Peace Corps, Mr. Scott worked as a computer teacher in Northern Philadelphia. It was here he realized that several students, who were failing their classes, had underlying emotional concerns that could have been aided if they had someone to go to. 

Unfortunately, the school where Mr. Scott was working at the time did not have a counselor. Mr. Scott realized counseling was the path he wanted to go down, and he began the journey to becoming an official school counselor. 

While in graduate school, Mr. Scott realized many people who end up becoming counselors have a story of their own that inspired them to go into the profession. “We were maybe helped by a counselor at some point in our lives or some adult helped us do something. And then sometimes you find you’re kind of already naturally doing that job. So, you know, I remember when I was in grad school, a professor said ‘Most of you in here. You’re probably already giving advice to your friends. So you decided to come here to get paid for it.’ Which definitely resonated with me. If you find yourself in that position where… everyone comes to talk and you are helping and giving advice… then this is a good path for you, for sure.” 

Mr. Scott got his counseling degree from the University of Pennsylvania and then went on to work as a counselor at schools in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2012. Not planning on moving back to his home state of Maryland, Mr. Scott’s wife received a job offer here, causing his family to relocate. Since moving back to Maryland, Mr. Scott has bounced around different schools within Howard County. He began at Hammond High where he was the Hispanic liaison, then went to Wilde Lake High where he stayed for a few years, followed by Patuxent Valley Middle School, and most recently, Long Reach High for four years. 

Mr. Scott has moved around a lot but sees it as “an opportunity to see how different departments work, how different schools work …. hopping around has really given me this window on seeing what works and what doesn’t from a more global perspective. I’m excited to come here and sort of bring that perspective, but also learn about what is working here. Because legitimately, Oakland Mills is one of the best counseling teams in the county, from my experience, and I am excited to be part of it.”

Mr. Scott was thrilled when he got the opportunity to transfer here to Oakland Mills. “I’ve been in the county for a while, and this is a school I’ve been hoping to transfer to for a while,” Scott said. As a new member of the Student Services team here at OM, Mr. Scott’s main goal is to plug into the work that’s already being done here and support in any way that he can. Mr. Scott has always had a passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work and also hopes to support those initiatives by bringing his experience into the mix. “There’s a lot of great staff here doing a lot of awesome work. I want to just help compliment that,” Scott said. 

Mr. Scott finds the coolest part of his job to be when students have come back and said, “It’s been years but I’ve never forgotten that thing you said to me.” Obviously, this is not an everyday occurrence, but in the instances that it has happened, Mr. Scott has found it to be really special. He says, “When it does happen, it’s very, very gratifying. Because I think in education in general, you never quite know. You know, you drop the pebble in the pond, and then when the ripples happen you kind of lose track because you’re still throwing pebbles in the pond for all the students … so it’s nice to hear those messages when they come back”.

If you see him around campus, make sure to give Mr. Scott a warm welcOMe!