Twelve Socorro Independent School District counseling teams earned the 2022-2023 Lone Star Awards for their dedication to serving students from the Lone Star State School Counseling Association.
The prominent award honors counseling programs for their excellent work in providing the best comprehensive school counseling at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
The LSSSCA progressive awards system includes bronze, silver and gold levels. Each level is met with increased levels of rigor designed to elevate school counselor programs to national recognition through the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) awards.
Capt. Walter E. Clarke Middle School, Col. John O. Ensor Middle School, Jane A. Hambric School, Montwood Middle School, Sgt. Jose F. Carrasco Elementary School, Sierra Vista Elementary won the gold award. Cactus Trails Elementary, SSG. Manuel R. Puentes Middle School and Socorro Middle School won the silver award. Elfida P. Chavez Elementary, Myrtle Cooper Elementary and Salvador H. Sanchez Middle School won the bronze award.
Tammi Mackeben, SISD director of guidance and school counseling, said this is the highest honor for a school counseling program in the state of Texas.
“We are so proud of the SISD school counseling programs for receiving the Lone Star recognition,” Mackeben said. “The programs were able to showcase their data driven programs and demonstrate the valuable services that are provided to our students to assure they are socially, emotionally, and academically prepared to be great citizens of our state and country.”
The 12 SISD schools to earn the award were among 21 campuses chosen in the state.
“Winning the Gold Lone Star Award from ASCA is a great honor for my partner, Mrs. Angie López and myself,” said Jane A. Hambric School counselor Yvette Harper. “This award symbolizes and acknowledges the hard work that we as counselors put forth in order to better serve our students. We are deeply humbled by this recognition for our counseling department and our school, Jane A. Hambric.”
Schools receiving the LSSSCA gold, silver or bronze award demonstrated outstanding comprehensive counseling programs that were data-driven, focused on goal completion and aligned to the ASCA National Model.
“We are so honored to receive this award from the Lone Star State Counseling Association,” said Bianca Pena, a counselor at Col. John O. Ensor Middle School. “As professional school counselors, we strive to implement a successful comprehensive school counseling program based on the ASCA model. We are thankful for the endless opportunities our district provides each scholar, and proud to represent Team SISD statewide.”
Each school counseling program must submit an intensive application consisting of 10 components that include data and accountability for student outcome goals for the year.
The winners were recognized at the Lone Star State School Counselor Association Conference in Frisco, Texas, in November.
Published December 7, 2022
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