The Indiana School Counselor Association (ISCA) selected Indiana Wesleyan University alumna Lauren Alspaugh as the 2020 School Counselor of the Year. As the recipient of the honor, Alspaugh had the opportunity to represent Indiana at the American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) School Counselor of the Year Gala on Jan. 30 in Washington, D.C.
The ASCA School Counselor of the Year program honors the professionals who devote their careers to serving as advocates for the nation’s students, helping them achieve success in school and in life. Alspaugh was selected based on several criteria, including: school counseling innovations, exemplary comprehensive school counseling programs, leadership and advocacy initiatives and contributions to student outcomes.
“I was completely honored to be Indiana's School Counselor of the Year!” said Alspaugh, who also received ISCA’s Secondary School Counselor of the Year award in 2018. “The ASCA Gala was a wonderful opportunity to meet amazing counselors from all over the country. Indiana Wesleyan has been such a major part of my life…I could never have earned this without the amazing counseling departments at IWU.”
Alspaugh graduated from IWU in 2007 with a degree in Psychology and again in 2009 with a master’s in Counseling. She currently serves as the director of guidance at North Putman High School in Roachdale, Indiana.
“Like the mission of the University, school counselors are ‘world changers’ in assisting their P-12 youth into the future!” said Judith Justice, graduate school counselor director who also received the School Counselor Educator of the Year award in 2019. “Lauren Alspaugh is one such world changer. We are proud of the recent representation from our program with Lauren this year and in 2018, Sarah Graham in 2017, along with School Counselor Educator of the Year, Dr. Jen Money-Brady in 2018."
The recent recognition for Lauren was released just prior to National School Counseling Week, happening February 3 - 7. For more information on IWU’s Division of Graduate Counseling, visit https://www.indwes.edu/adult-graduate/programs/ma-counseling/.