Andrea Stone is an Elementary School Counselor at two schools in Paramus New Jersey with a masters of education and psychological counseling. She took a nonlinear career path starting as a criminology major at The University of Maryland, graduating in 2006. Today Andrea has followed her interest in mental health, her passion for helping young people build upon their social skills and her love for art as a school counselor.
Every day is different for Andrea, teaching character education lessons, holding small social groups and helping her students solve their conflicts.
Inspired by her school counselor in high school who helped her feel better about her college application process, she decided to reach out and hold an informational interview. Then Andrea interned as a director at a small summer camp and applied to three teaching alternative programs for her first job after college. She felt like giving up after receiving two rejection letters, until she received a “yes” from Baltimore County’s inner-city school teaching program.
“Even if you get rejected, it doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong path,” said Andrea.
Andrea taught special education classes for one year at an inner-city school in Baltimore but felt very overwhelmed. She quit her job and switched paths entirely, working in a recruiting position for IT consulting company. But she knew she was capable of so much more. And she didn’t see herself sitting at a desk all day on a computer anymore.
Find out how Andrea finally took the leap to follow her passion, get her masters and become a school counselor.
“I think we are so in this mindset that if we know what we want we expect it to come immediately and it should be a very straight line to our goal, but it’s all over the place and it does take a while and I know for me there was so much doubt along the way,” she said.
After being inspired by Andrea’s story think about what feeds your soul and set an intention to integrate it into your career like Andrea did. Don’t just abandon your passions because someone told you they’re not practical.
Download my podcast interview with Andrea here on iTunes!
Once you’re inspired by Andrea’s story we would love to read your review. Thanks so much!
FYPC Podcast Ep 5: Rachel Aldrich, Random House
There were so many interesting points in this interview, not only for people trying to make career choices, but also for people at any stage in their life. I know from my own work experiences that sometimes jobs just weren’t a “good fit,” as was pointed out in the interview. And one of the very best pieces of advice I got when I retired was, “Find a passion.” When I retired, I found activities that I have found to be every bit as rewarding (in terms of psychic income) as what I did to earn a living. So the words in you podcast title (Find your passion…) ring very true to me. I’m looking forward to hearing more from Andrea about her career, both in terms of the path she has taken and the work she does now. I know she helps kids in many ways and is helping them to grow in ways she may never fully realize herself, but that the kids will appreciate for the rest of their lives.