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For two years I was racking my brain trying to find
something else that I could be good at; I was depressed. In my
senior year of high school, I took an AP (Advanced Placement)
Psychology class. Connecting this with my joy for giving advice
and wisdom to friends, I’ve decided that I wanted to be a
psychologist—specifically a school counselor.
I now feel that being a school counselor is what I’m meant to
do in life. Growing up I had difficult experiences battling
through depression and the divorce of my parents; I knew that
other teens had it worse than me. Every year at my high
school, there was at least one case of a student suicide. Some I
knew personally, others I never had the pleasure of meeting. I
grieve deeply like a mother who lost her child when I recall
those names and faces. Couldn’t I have done something? If
they were my friend, or if they had opened up about their
struggle, would I have been able to talk them out of it? Such
feelings explain why I want to be a school counselor. Not every
teenager or child has the confidence to ask their parents to see
a professional therapist—in fact, I highly doubt most
depressed people would have the mindset to seek out help. I
want to be accessible for any troubled teen that has a voice.