Johanna Denise P. Gonzales-Grade 6C
Irene Grace Chua and Jessamine Faith Molate-Second Year C
Carina Dorothy S. Tan- Fourth Year C

A guidance and counseling orientation was conducted by our new guidance counselor, Mrs. Reina Jezza De Guzman, to Grades 5 and 6, First Year-Second Year, and Third Year-Fourth Year students held at the Audio-visual Room last June 9,16 and 17 respectively.

With the Grades 5 and 6, Mrs. De Guzman discussed that guidance is a process to influence the attitude and behavior of a person. According to her, it helps students to know more about themselves, their own abilities and their interests. With the help of the guidance office, students may develop their self-confidence. She also mentioned the importance of counseling, and the proper behavior in the classroom. She emphasized that students must give their utmost respect to their teachers for they serve as their second parents in school.

The orientation with the First Year and Second Year students was about the three key areas in counseling namely: personal, educational and career counseling. In personal counseling, a student will undergo individual interview, routine interview and parent-teacher consultation which could be done with honors and underachieves. On the other hand, in the teacher-parent consultation, the teachers invite the parents on how to help their children to reach their full potentials in school. Educational counseling includes guidance orientation for students, and seminars or talks with parents. And finally, career counseling enhances critical thinking and decision-making skills.

During the orientation of the Third Year and Fourth Year, Mrs. De Guzman covered the different kinds of counseling, including Critical Thinking and Decision-making, Dignity of Work and its importance to society, Career Counseling, which includes career talks, career fairs and career "special" counseling, which is for those who do not yet know what they want in the future. She also mentioned that there will be talks about relationships (understanding men and women), drug and substance abuse and even a special talk for the students and guardians about parenting and child behavior.

On top of everything, the guidance wants to introduce school-home collaboration wherein the teachers and parents will be working hand in hand towards the total development of each child.