Today, we are joined by Kat Pastor, the Executive Director of School Supports at CharacterStrong, and Cory Notestine, the Director of Continuous Improvement at CharacterStrong, from Washington D.C. to kick off National School Counseling Week. They discuss the past, present, and future of school counseling, as well as the changes that have taken place and what keeps them passionate about school counseling today.

Kat Pastor has passionately served as a student and educator advocate for over 20 years in the roles of coach, student council advisor, school counselor at the secondary level and financial aid counselor/coordinator of student employment and adjunct professor at the post-secondary level. Through Kat’s leadership, her school counseling department received both state and national recognition, including ASCA RAMP recognition in 2020. Kat has facilitated professional development with various state and national associations, along with individual schools and districts. Kat exudes a commitment to community, having served on numerous local, state and national associations, boards and committees. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Masters in Education in Student Affairs and School Counseling from Northern Arizona University. Kat was named the ASCA 2016 National School Counselor of the Year and Northern Arizona University’s President’s Alumni Awardee in 2021.

Cory Notestine spent the last 14 years working in rural and urban school settings across North Carolina and Colorado as a school counselor and district leader. Over the past 7 years he's led successful district-wide SEL curriculum adoption and implementation; redesigned and integrated MTSS teaming, protocols, and service delivery; and created a behavioral matrix that was student centered and restorative in nature. He is passionate about thoughtful and timely change management, the intersection of politics and education, and how to identify high leverage action items to increase successful implementation. Cory was named the 2015 national School Counselor of the Year.