The Adams State University School of Counselor Education is pleased to announce two of their post-graduate students were recognized at the National American Counseling Association Conference, held in Toronto, Canada from March 30 through April 1, 2023.
First-year master’s student Margaret “Meg” Swan, received the grand prize for Future School Counselor essay competition. Becky Meidinger, Ph.D., school counseling program chair and assistant professor of counselor education, presented the opportunity to all the students and Swan embraced the idea.
Swan read the award letter over several times. “My initial reaction was shock. There were more applicants this year than ever before. I was so surprised.”
The American Counseling Association Future School Counselors essay competition recognizes graduate counseling students with exceptional insight and understanding about the school counseling profession and the work of professional school counselors who interact with elementary, middle school or high school students.
Swan lives in Casper, Wyo., and works in an elementary school as a behavior support specialist. “The students I work with inspired me to write the essay in the form of a poem. Their needs are so different and you have to meet them where they are and provide them with what they need at the time.” She received a $2,000 honorarium, complimentary registration to the conference and the essay will be published on CT Online.
Greg Peterson finishes his doctorate program this spring. He received the American Counseling Association (ACA) Best Practices in Research Student Award. “I am glad that this research will get a spotlight, and hopefully, counselor educators will use the scale to advance counseling research around climate change.”
He is the director of Student Wellness at the University of Portland in Portland, Ore. and lives in Ridgefield, Wash. His research project is a synthesis of multiple parts of his identity. “I have always been interested in climate change and want to help with the efforts to make our world a better place.”
The Best Practices in Research, Student Award recognizes a best practices research project conducted by a graduate student. Research projects completed within the last two years that further the evidence base for counseling practice were considered for this award. Eligible projects included original research or a synthesis of the research literature supporting a particular practice or approach.
Through preliminary research, Peterson learned the topic of climate change has been a conversation within the mental health fields for over a decade now and in 2018 the American Counseling Association identified it as a crisis of the century. “Even though the ACA made the declaration, no substantive research followed up on the call to respond, and this call allowed me to follow through with my desire to help on a grander scale with my research. I wanted to contribute to the research in a substantive way which could help launch future research projects.”
Peterson received complimentary registration to the conference. He and Swan were recognized at the ACA Conference and Expo. The award is sponsored by the American Counseling Association Foundation.
Neil Rigsbee, Ph.D., School of Counselor Education assessment program chair and associate professor, wrote a letter of recommendation for Peterson’s nomination. The award is based on Peterson’s dissertation research. “Greg’s research will fill a critical gap in the professional counseling body of knowledge regarding the counseling profession’s response to the mental health impacts of the climate crisis.” Currently, there are no measures for assessing counselors’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills that are requisite for addressing the mental health symptoms that result from the climate crisis.
“Dr. Rigsbee is my dissertation chair and supported my academic endeavors since the first semester,” Peterson added. “I am greatly indebted to the counselor education faculty, as I have a job I love, a dissertation that has won an award I am proud of, and a professional identity that they have helped to develop and grow within me.”
For more information visit American Counseling Association.
