SHS counselor makes national news

SANDPOINT — For Sandpoint High School counselor Jeralyn Mire, meeting First Lady Michelle Obama last week and representing Idaho at the 2017 Counselor of the Year event in Washington, D.C., was "unreal."

"It was absolutely one of the most inspiring, just absolutely jaw dropping, experiences ever," Mire said.

During the First Lady's final official address to the nation last Friday, Mire was not only positioned just behind and to the right of Obama, she was one of three counselors embraced by the First Lady at the end of the speech.

As Idaho's 2016 High School Counselor of the Year, Mire was chosen to represent the state at the national event. 

Shawn Woodward, superintendent for the Lake Pend Oreille School District, said Mire is well deserving of the honor.

"She is tireless in her efforts to ensure our students have options and plans for life after high school," Woodward said in an email to the Daily Bee. "She helps provide a spark to all students and works with them to overcome barriers that they perceive are in their chosen paths. She is a true difference maker in the lives of the students we serve in our community."

A counselor from Michigan, Terri Tchorzynski, was honored nationally as the 2017 Counselor of the Year during the event, which was organized by the American School Counselor Association. As the Idaho representative, Mire joined counselors from across the country — although she didn't realize what a big deal the event was going to be.

The event was staged in the Blue Room of the White House, Mire said, and afterward she and husband attended a large reception in the White House. Obama also addressed them as a group before the televised event, and Mire said she touched by how warm and genuine she was.

"She was very real, just so completely genuine and appreciative and inspiring, really engaging," Mire said. "I think the other thing is she knows what school counselors do ... she understands about school counselors and she understands what kids have to go through, so it wasn't just lip service — that was the thing that I think impressed me."

A few highlights from the Obama's speech, Mire said, included three of the First Lady's signature campaigns, which include "I'm First," for first-generation college students, "Better Make Room," for college students who wouldn't have thought college was for them, and "Reach Higher," which targets all students to find their next step after they finish high school.

"One of the things is that she said she is committed to this mission and she is going stay involved and make sure things keep moving forward, which I thought was exciting," Mire said. 

At the end of her speech, Obama addressed young people by saying she wants them to know that they matter, that they belong, and they shouldn't be afraid. She said to be focused, determined, hopeful, empowered, and to do so by getting an education and to "use that education to build a country worthy of your boundless promise."

"I really appreciated how she talked to the youth," Mire said. "I appreciated that she said that you have to do the hard work, there is going to be hard days, there is going to times when it doesn't go as well — you have to dig deep and keep going."

Mire said some of the things discussed, such as the college signing day event, SHS has been doing for several years already, even before it became a national initiative.

She said it "really makes you proud" of SHS that the school is ahead of the curve.

Mire has been a counselor in the district for nearly 20 years, spending the first nine years as an elementary school counselor before moving on to the high school. She said at SHS, four counselors make up an "incredible" team.

"It's not just me," she said. "We have an incredible counseling team at Sandpoint High School that really deserve the award."