DPS Counselor of the Year Sarah Machak can explain why this year’s School Counselors’ Week theme, Helping Students Thrive, aptly describes what school counselors achieve through their work. She said her fellow superheroes build strong relationships so that their students can confidently begin envisioning their lives beyond high school.

How they accomplish this is strategic and data-driven, she notes.

Machak began her career in the classroom as a high school math teacher. She loved teaching and she also loved working with emerging adults, encouraging them to reflect and figure out who they are and what they want to be.

“I felt like my favorite part was goal-setting, getting to know the students on a deeper level, helping them figure out their goals,” said Machak. “As a school counselor, that’s what you do.”

Now in her eighth year with Durham Public Schools, she has served the district’s Middle College for five of those years. The other three were spent at Jordan High School.

At Middle College, “All of our students are getting to start their futures now but have that scaffolded support. I see my role as a counselor as working with students on an individual basis, determining what's important to them, their goals. I want them to see how they can leave Middle College happy, healthy, and thriving with a plan they’re proud of. That’s my biggest goal and desire as a school counselor,” said Machak.

The planning helps builds their dreams, said Machak. 

“Data is the basis of our work. Feelings are an ocean. Data is the foundation. Otherwise, you’re blowing in the wind of the season. We use data to identify needs and create a school counseling program that serves those needs. We’re simultaneously working on the counseling program as a whole and working individually with our students to create personal plans,” said Machak.

This year, she has an intern who is working with her to curate summer and internship opportunities and find resources for her students.

“Some days are seed-planting days; on other days, you see the growth from the seeds you‘ve planted,” said Machak, who said she was inspired by a counselor in a former school district whose work she thought was “phenomenal”. Her commitment to working with young people began before she graduated from college. She majored in psychology and traveled several times to the Dominican Republic to work with youth

Counselors are intricately involved in student success and serve as strong links that help students make the connection between school and their futures.

“Academics is a foundation of success, and when you have a relationship with students, they can connect their academics to their personal goals,” she said.

One of her former students scored a scholarship from Amazon as a high school Senior.  She called Machak during her first semester in college to tell her that she had been invited to serve as a paid intern with benefits such as a salary, an apartment, and a food allowance.  The original scholarship opportunity was gleaned by Machak on her behalf.

“As a counselor, you get to hear about so many opportunities, and when you get to help students find those opportunities, it brings to life the possibilities. Once they’re out in the world, that means so much more than a problem set on the internet,” she said.

Counselors take the lead in making it happen. They wear many hats and much of what they do may go unnoticed.

“Relationship is the fire that allows school counselors to be the superheroes that they are, whether it’s advocating for students, collaborating with teachers, or looking at data to see where the needs of the school are. I feel lucky to get to do so many different things all in an effort to support students. That has always felt like the goal of all the school counselors in Durham,” said Machak.

Counselors also help each other, said Machak. She leads the district’s new counselor mentor/mentee Professional Learning Community (PLC) for Durham Public Schools.

“That has been one of the coolest things because I get to collaborate with middle school and elementary school counselors and see how the role in many ways is the same throughout. We really just care about the kids and want DPS to succeed,” she said.