OM’s Newest Counselor

By Taylor Whitaker & Kamari Shearin

School counselors can help all students to become better versions of themselves. From college advice to academic aid to emotional support, counselors make students’ lives a little easier. This is why we’re so excited to be welcoming Ms. Martin to OM to join our amazing team of counselors in student services.

Ms. Martin is a new counselor at OM who came from teaching English 10 in New York City and Baltimore County after that. She grew up in the Bronx and has made OM her new hOMe. She branched out because she wanted an opportunity to work at a school where students were more involved. As much as she loved teaching, she wanted to be able to have a stronger connection with students, which is why she turned to counseling.

Ms. Martin interned around the area before she started at OM and found that this place felt like home and was the perfect size. She admires the tight-knit student community here. “I think the students advocate for themselves a lot. And also I think it’s very empowering to see students of color and all students working together.” She loves the way that the community comes together for the school and the events that it has. She started as a teacher because per advice she got from her counselor was to become a teacher before becoming a counselor.She switched from teaching to counseling because she wanted to be able to level with students from different cultural backgrounds and have a deeper understanding of their lifestyle in the school, which is why she’s thrilled to be a part of a school with so much diversity. She’s excited to be joining a school that holds the same core values as she does.

Ms Martin has many hobbies to keep her busy during her free time some of which are knitting, crocheting, watching documentaries, and listening to 90’s dance hall, a genre of Jamaican music. She says, “I have to keep my hands active and occupied or just keep my mind occupied.” She has many unfinished knitting and crocheting projects which she tries to finish when she is multi-tasking. For self-care, she attends fitness classes at Life Bridge. She also loves to travel to places and if she did go somewhere she said she would go to South Africa because of her “huge fangirl crush over Trevor Noah.” Her family is a huge aspect of who she is today and she has a lot of respect for how they always showed up for her, “ I think we take for granted the pieces that our parents fill in for us.”

As a new counselor at OM, she has noticed that there are going to be times when it’s busy and times when it’s not. Right now she is focusing on seniors, but down the line, she will be focusing on other grades to make sure they have the attention that they need. Because she came from teaching English 10, she’s expressed excitement for working with the sophomores, “I always love to move on to the sophomores.” Ms. Martin tries her best to focus on students with emotional difficulties to make them feel valid, cared for, and a part of the OM community. She wants to make sure her students know that no matter how small their problem is, it is still valid, “Every problem may not be equal to other people’s eyes, but every problem is felt equally by that person.”

Ms Martin has a very caring approach to her students and is very excited to be a part of the OM family and we are very happy to have her.