With a new year comes a new guidance counselor, though thankfully she is well known to most. For those of you who don’t know who she is, such as freshman and new students, Mrs. Thomas has worked in the LaRue County school system for a total of twelve years, and because of that, she is familiar with both the staff and students of LaRue, and even grew up here. “I am originally from LaRue County, and I have lots of friends and family here. When I was in high school, I planned on moving far away from here. When I matured a little, I realized just how great it is to live in this small town. Although we may not have as many conveniences as some other places, we do have a supportive community.” Mrs. Thomas is a lifelong member and is especially familiar with our school system.
Mrs. Thomas’ venture into education began at Western Kentucky University. She has earned degrees from WKU in Business and Marketing Education, Library Media Education, Guidance Counseling, and Exceptional Education. After graduating, Mrs. Thomas began her teaching career at Nelson County High School, went on to teach at Central Hardin before going back to Nelson to teach 9th and 10th grade English. In 2003, she accepted a business position at LCMS for four years before transferring to LCHS. When asked on her goals as our new guidance counselor, Mrs. Thomas responded with, “I LOVE working with students of all ages, and nothing makes me happier than seeing a student succeed. I really want students to have the opportunity to learn more about colleges, careers, internships, and scholarships, etc.”
In addition to loving to work with her students, when asked about what she wanted to accomplish while working as our new counselor, Thomas stated, “Overall, I don’t think students are using all of the resources that are available. I want to improve the college and career planning process at LCHS. I want to meet with each student individually and help him/her develop a college/career plan.“
At the beginning of this years, Mrs. Thomas had accepted a position at ALES where she teaches classes in the morning. After the leaving of Ms. Newton this December, Mrs. Thomas has also taken on the role of upperclassmen guidance counselor. In order to balance her two positions, Mrs. Thomas works at the elementary school in the morning, then drives over to LCHS in the afternoon. After February 8th, ALES will have a new guidance counselor, meaning Mrs. Thomas will be full time at the high school afterwards!