This year, Centreville High School’s team of counselors welcomed one more into their ranks: Ms. Warren, who is now the counselor of students with last names at the beginning of the alphabet. She started as a counselor after college, but before that, Ms. Warren held an impressive amount of part-time jobs, many of which having to do with health and wellness; she was a lifeguard, water safety instructor, dive coach, gymnastics instructor, and a cheer instructor, among others. She has also held various customer service jobs, such as barista, intern at an office, and retail worker. Despite all of this part-time experience, Ms. Warren says she ultimately became a counselor because “[she] wanted to do something meaningful and make an impact.”

Ms. Warren got her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and her Master’s in Counseling Education. She went to Virginia Tech for both Undergrad as well as Graduate school. Initially, she didn’t know what she wanted to do, but her favorite subjects were math, art, psychology, sociology, and philosophy. According to Ms. Warren, now that she is a counselor, her favorite part of the job is working with the students — she says that “if [she is] having a hard day or buried in paperwork, going out and talking to the students always re-energizes [her] and reminds [her] why [she] chose this career.” For this reason, it’s no surprise that Ms. Warren listed one of her greatest passions as helping others.

Her other greatest passion, according to her, is “finding creative outlets and projects.” She loves finding art projects to work on. Along with this, she also runs and does yoga to relieve stress. When she needs a “brain break,” Ms. Warren binge-watches various shows, such as design shows, documentaries, and some Netflix and Amazon Prime shows.

Being a school counselor, a large part of Ms. Warren’s job is offering advice to students that rely on her. When asked what advice she would give her younger self, her first words were: “Hang in there and strive for balance.” According to her, she has a tendency to try to do a million things at once and still struggles with balancing her time; she notes that “there are so many things [she] want[s] to do, but sometimes it’s just as important to do nothing and be present with the important people in your life.” Along with this, she’d also tell a younger Ms. Warren to surround herself with supporters and support them back, to be brave, to fail frequently, and to “get comfortable being uncomfortable — that’s where the growth happens.”

It seems that, when it comes down to it, Ms. Warren’s favorite thing will always be spending time with others. She loves spending her off time with friends and family, trying to “find activities that will keep [her kids] entertained and tire them out.” She has two sons, aged four and six. Her love for others makes her a great fit to be a counselor; it’s clear when talking to her that she is someone full of empathy and compassion who wants nothing more than to help the people that surround her. The Centreville Sentinel offers her a warm welcome to the CVHS family with full faith that she will make a great contribution to the environment here.