Photo courtesy of Davina Santos
New on campus: Counselor Davina Santos joins community
After working in a few different districts, new counselor Davina Santos has finally found a home with Gunn鈥檚 counseling program. Santos was intrigued by the amount of counseling and resources available to students, which encouraged her to choose to work at Gunn. 鈥淚鈥檝e been in a few different districts and I鈥檝e never seen this level [of student resources],鈥 she said. 鈥淚 was really curious to see how that benefited students and what that felt like as an employee.鈥
Her path to becoming a counselor, however, was not easy. 鈥淚 was told that counseling is not a very stable career because of funding,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e tend to get laid off.鈥
While Santos first started out as a teacher, she found herself supporting students in the same way a counselor would. 鈥淲hile I was teaching, I found myself not only teaching all of the standards but also supporting students in [the personal] realm,鈥 she said. 鈥淭herefore, I decided to take a chance and go back to school and do counseling.鈥
Santos knows that the transition to Gunn can be challenging for both herself and the students who are changing counselors, but her plan is to provide as much support and guidance as needed. 鈥淭his is a very meaningful and rewarding profession for me, so I want to do anything that I can to make students shine,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I want to set them up to have the best opportunity. That鈥檚 my entire goal and purpose for being here.鈥