Christopher Vazquez is a current graduate student at Liberty University in the M.Ed. School Counseling Program. Christopher Vazquez has been serving and working with children and adults with severe mental and physical needs. Prior to becoming a graduate student in 2021, he worked as educator and paraprofessional for two years, serving in elementary, middle  and high school levels. He has over seven years of experience serving the special needs and educational community.

He is and has been a member of professional organizations including:

• American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
• Young Man Christian Association- Summer and school programs (YMCA)
• Greenville County Recreational department summer employee (Camp Spear-Head)

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Foundations. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP - (B.1, B.2) CAEP (A.1.1d, f) ASCA (B-PF 2, B-PF 3, B-PF 8, B-PF 9). These show how I demonstrates the ability to apply and adhere to ethical and legal standards in school counseling and demonstrates the ability to articulate, model, and advocate for an appropriate school counselor identity and program.

In my paper Ethical Vignette Professional Boundaries, I studied a research paper in regard to setting professional boundaries with a counselor and client. In the research I discovered the ethical and legal reasons for having set boundaries within a counseling session. I then used the research to help create and implement new boundaries for myself and my future clients (students).

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Counseling prevention and intervention. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP (D.1, D.2) This shows my ability to demonstrates self-awareness, sensitivity to others, and the skills needed to relate to diverse individuals, groups, and classrooms. It also shows how I can provide individual and group counseling and classroom guidance to promote the academic, career, and social/emotional development of students.

            This documentation has been redacted to protect the identity of the student. In both the paper form, and video presentation, I work with the student on his future and academic career.  

https://watch.liberty.edu/media/t/1_bxkayfy7

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Diversity and Advocacy. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP .1, F.2, F.3. This artifact allows for me to demonstrate my multicultural competencies in relation to diversity, equity, and opportunity in student learning and development. It also provides my ability to advocates for the learning and academic experiences necessary to promote the academic, career, and social/emotional development of my students. Lastly, it shows how I will advocate for school policies, programs, and services that enhance a positive school climate and are equitable and responsive to multicultural student populations.

            I created Honoring Diversity as a project that showcases my ability to promote diversity. It is a hypothetical situation in which I help guide teachers in the area of helping their students who students are multi-culturally diverse and who are at an economically disadvantage. I provided them with a goal. The goal was to have their economically disadvantage and diverse high school students increase seeking postsecondary opportunities. This was done through the creation of SMART GOALS.

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Assessment. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP: H.1, H.2.  This artifact allows for me to demonstrate my ability to assesses and interprets students’ strengths and needs, recognizing uniqueness in cultures, languages, values, backgrounds, and abilities. It also demonstrates how I am able to selects appropriate assessment strategies that can be used to evaluate a student’s academic, career, and social/emotional development.

            The Case for ZB is a student that I observed. The initials “ZB” is a pseudonym to help protect the identity of the student. I was able to see the needs of ZB. I worked with the teachers and staff to help recognize his areas of strength and weaknesses. We then worked to create a plan to help ZB succeed in multiple areas of his life.

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Research and Development. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP: J.1, J.2, J.3.This particular research paper shows my ability to apply relevant research findings that inform the practice of school counseling. It also shows how I developed measurable outcomes for school counseling programs, activities, interventions, and experiences. Lastly it represents my skills in analyzing and using data (and relevant technology) to enhance school counseling program.

I created Ethical Decision Making, by researching and evaluating a previously documented case of a student’s counseling session. I found many flaws in the process and worked to rectify them. I worked to create new and measurable outcomes for the student. Lastly I worked to provide data to the school counselors for future use.

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Academic Development. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP: L.1, L.2. This artifact shows my talents in how I have conducted programs that were designed to enhance student academic development. It also shows how I was able to implement strategies and activities to prepare students for full range of postsecondary options and opportunities.

            I created a small group specifically geared to creating academic success. This “accountability” tracker was used help students track their grades for an entire semester. It presented their core classes and helped them see how much time and effort was needed to raise their grades.

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Collaboration and Consultation. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP: N.1, N.2, N.3. This presentation shows how I worked with parents, guardians, and families to act on behalf of their children to address problems that affected their student success in school. I was able to collaborate this the school counselor support team to help locate resources in the community that will be used to improve student achievement and success. Finally, this presentation shows how I worked alongside teachers, staff, and community-based organizations to promote student academic, career, and social/emotional development.

            The presentation “Hillcrest Middle School” was created after spending nearly four months there. I gathered a great number of resources to put this project together. It reflects on how I collaborated with many individuals.

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Leadership. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP: P1-P2. This presentation helps to represent my skills in leadership. I participated in the in the design, implementation, management, and evaluation of this school counseling program. The materials used this artifact were presented in a classroom guidance program.

            This presentation was created after running my first small group ever. This was done during my time at AJ Whittenberg Elementary. I did my practicum at this site. It was there that I was exposed to true leadership. My site supervisor taught me how to lead a group and how to create materials that can be produced to help students grown in their academics. I was also able to apply these skills in helping students fulfill their social and emotional needs as well.

The artifact(s) attached here show my competency in regard to Leadership. They show the Advanced Internship Standards (AIA): CACREP: Scrip-Core.

This is a copy of my midterm evaluation. It was done by my site supervisor on my behalf. It shows many areas of strength and a few areas that need improvement. I will work hard on those areas so that I may become a great school counselor and fulfill my job as a lifelong learner.

• Prompt #1: – In your own words, summarize how serving in elementary and secondary schools has contributed to your understanding of the diverse developmental needs of K-12 students, including exceptionalities. - When starting my practicum at an elementary school, I learned that younger children are driven by their emotions more than by logic. This is because they are still developing mentally. The challenge for me was helping elementary students understand and process their emotions. One way my site supervisor taught me to do this was through the use of puppets. Elementary students got very excited when we brought puppets into the classroom to do a classroom lesson.  As I moved from elementary to middle school, I noticed a dramatic change in how students learn and express themselves. Middle schoolers are a little bit older and are starting to move away from wanting to please the teachers and counselors and are moving towards individuality. They are begging to learn about who they are and what they want to be. The final thing I learned is that all students learn differently. I worked with my site supervisors on creating lessons that approached the four major ways of learning. They included visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetics. I hope to be able to use all of those to reach my students in the future.

Prompt #2: – The Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) states, “The professional counselor recognizes that the client’s beliefs (or absences of beliefs) about spirituality and religion are central to his or her worldview and can influence psychosocial functioning.” How have your field experiences contributed to your understanding of the importance of including K-12 students’ religious and spiritual supports, especially if religion and spirituality are valued by the K-12 student? – During both internships one and two I experienced ASERVIC up-close. The first time is saw this I was counseling an eighth grader. He started to talk about his religious background. He shared how the church had played a vital role in shaping his mother’s thinking as well as his own. He also discussed how the church treated his mother and how it affected the way he viewed religion and people. He stated that he believed in a higher power but not necessarily in God. He was both inspired and hurt by his experience. This caused him to create his path in life. The second time I observed ASERVIC was while working at a high school. A student had permission to come into the counseling office to pray every day. He claimed that it was his religious right to be allowed to use the counseling conference room for his daily prayer. Both of these experiences taught me the importance of spirituality and religion. They showed me how they can be central to a student’s worldview and how it can influence their psychosocial functioning. One student had a positive experience and used it to grow in his life, the other had a negative one and has had to work to overcome it. I hope to open up to students in the future regarding their spiritual, ethical, and religious values.

Prompt #3 – How have your field experiences contributed to your understanding of the importance of including the K-12 student's family, community, and culture as a source of support? – I believe that having a strong support system is key to academic success. During my practicum, I saw this played out by my site supervisor. She made it her goal to call parents, guardians, and community leaders whenever possible. She believed that finding adults who could help advocate for a child provided them with a better chance at success. I also saw this happen at the high school level. A student's family, community, and culture look a little different in high school than it does in elementary or middle school. High schoolers are young adults who are starting to make life decisions on their own. At this stage in students’ life community and like-minded peer groups play a significant role. High school students will often seek help from their friends before going to an adult. One way to help reach a student is through his or her friends. I hope to help future high school students make good and healthy friendships. Positive friendships can also lead to healthy family relationships as well. If a high school student can see what a healthy family dynamic looks like from a friend, he or she may strive to create that within their family unit. I truly believe in advocacy for a student’s friends and family.

 Prompt #4 – How has your field experience strengthened your professional identity as a school counselor? What aspects of the school counselor's role, scope of practice, and referral process have you learned from collaboration and consultation? - My field experience has helped to prepare and shape me to become a school counselor in ways I never thought it would have. I now know what kind of counselor I want to strive to be. I will be the voice for the voiceless. I will do my best to advocate for my students every chance I get. I have learned that the school counselor is there to help the school function properly but more importantly, to help give students the best chance to grow socially and emotionally. One big lesson I learned during my field experience is the referral process. Before I started my field experience, I thought it was up to the counselor to fix all of a student's problems. I have since learned that this is not true. I have learned that it takes a village to help a student. Counselors have many tools to help do the job. One big tool is collaboration. Being able to reach out and build up a community is a wonderful thing. I know this may not be easy, and often it may even cause more stress for a counselor, but at the end of the day, it is all about the student. More often than not students feel like they are not heard, seen, or loved. I hope that I will be able to provide those things for my future students.

The goal for this group is to provide students with time management tools and skills to help them throughout their time in high school. Older students who are graduating high school and are entering into the work force or college will be able to use these time management skills now to have a more successful future. Students will learn how to create a working schedule and be able to use it to stay on track in their daily routine.