At Potosi Schools, we have a wonderful, caring, and nice school counselor: Mrs.Foote. Mrs. Foote has been a school counselor for twenty-seven years, working in various school districts. This school year will be her last because she is retiring after a very rewarding career.
Mrs. Foote says the reason she is retiring from being a school counselor is that her husband, Tom, has been retired from the US Navy for twelve years. Mrs. Foote states that her husband has been patiently waiting for her to retire so they can travel together. Mrs. Foote says that after retirement, she, her husband, and their Welsh Terrier, Bosworth, are planning to travel in an RV to see family, friends, and the people Tom met in the military.
Mrs. Foote states that she became a school counselor totally by accident. She said she never visited her school counselor ever when she was in school. After college, and while working in the business world, Mrs. Foote explained, “I volunteered in the evenings by mentoring and tutoring troubled youth who were in danger of not graduating. Their school counselor told me I should consider becoming a school counselor. I didn’t think much of it but continued to volunteer. About a year later, I ran into someone I had graduated from college with who was in the adult counseling program at UW-Platteville. She off-handedly said I should consider school counseling because she always thought I would be good at it. “It was strange that she said that to me because I didn’t really know her well, and it was something we had never discussed. It just felt like God was calling me to really listen. I called the college, and a professor there said I should take his class, Introduction to Counseling, that summer, and after that class, I would know if it was something I would like. Well, I loved it. All these years later, I still do.”
After an internship in Wausau, Wisconsin, she started her career as a high school counselor in Monroe, WI, from 1996 until 2008. “She came to Potosi after leaving Platteville High School. She was encouraged to come to Potosi by Mrs. Cooley, the district’s director of Pupil Services here at Potosi, at Platteville Schools when she was our school psychologist, and she actually called me and asked me to come to an interview with Potosi Schools. I am very glad I did! At Potosi, I am the School Counselor and the District Assessment Coordinator.”
Mrs.Foote is going to miss the kids. She said, “Kids are kids, always and forever. Helping your kids have a little hope, feel a little better, make good decisions, whatever it is they need that day, makes my whole day feel worthwhile.