When class schedules were released in late August, nearly 1,200 students submitted a change request to the Counseling Office. With three counselors having left just their positions, the office quickly became swamped with students, and it would be weeks before new counselors could be hired. 

Sara Vance, a counselor at Pioneer, said, “All of this (chaos) was beyond our control,” but that didn’t stop students from complaining.

The beginning of the year is stressful for everyone. Students, teachers and especially the Pioneer counselors. This year, the Pioneer Counseling Department was very suddenly short staffed and under prepared for the hundreds of students in need of changes to their schedule. 

According to Vance, the counselors used a Google Form first, as they usually do, then closed it because of the high submission rate. “It was a very challenging and busy first week from the massive schedule requests,” she said. 

Fiona Garwood, a sophomore, said she missed three weeks of instruction due to not being able to get into the class she signed up for fast enough. As a result, she felt other students were ahead of her for a few weeks.  Although she felt left out from the class material, she and other students were understanding of the situation, and grateful the reamining counselors worked so hard to strighten out student schedules. “I am amazed by the counselors,” Garwood said, adding she had empathy for all they were going through in the first weeks of school.

Pioneer eventually introduced two new counselors, Levi Jackson and Marissa Bailey-Johnson, and the Counseling Department started having less hectic days.Vance said she and the other counselors are thrilled with the new staff additions. “We’re best when we work as a team,” she said.