Mrs. Nelson has been employed at Summerville Union High School since January of 2020 as the crisis counselor and has created many opportunities for students here at Summerville. Before creating the Wellness center, she worked in the office, offering one on one counseling with students. Starting this school year she established the Wellness Center in hopes to offer students a place to decompress, connect with Mrs. Nelson, or even get a snack and some tea. However, recently she has accepted an offer at another district and informed the Summerville High community of this on Tuesday, December 12th of 2023 through an email she sent out.

The news in her email started to spread fast and many students asked Mrs. Nelson for more information, to which she responded. 

“I have chosen a position at a different district that will allow me to have a set case load and that will allow me clinical work, which just means that I will have clients that will happen to be students and I will be able to do intense deep therapy with them,” stated Mrs. Nelson. 

When asked why she could not do this clinical counseling here at Summerville she described the position at Sonora she will soon be taking. 

“The reason is because the Mental Health Department at Sonora High has a team of counselors that do specific jobs and my position will be to provide clinical counseling services to students,” said Mrs. Nelson. 

In comparison, at Summerville she was tasked with many responsibilities to do all on her own. This meant she had to keep her schedule open at all times to all mental health related needs at multiple school sites.

Mrs. Nelson hopes that with this new job she can use her degree to the fullest extent and be able to help kids more in depth mentally. 

“What I will be doing is if you think about a counselor or a therapist that you go to, I will basically be providing therapy, but to students that have it written in their plan. Their individual educational plan (IEP) if they have an IEP,” Mrs. Nelson noted. 

When asked what she may miss about Summerville, Mrs. Nelson expressed that her decision did not come easy. 

“This decision was not taken lightly, I thought long and hard about it,” Said Mrs. Nelson. 

She explained that she loves what she’s done here at Summerville and that she’s so glad that the district has supported the vision for the Wellness Center.

She  also stated that she is so happy to have helped the students and staff here and is sad to say goodbye.

“I know that the district is going to choose someone who is going to be a great fit and I know that there is a lot of really, really good counselors out there,” Mrs. Nelson stated. 

Mrs. Nelson will leave a huge impact on students and staff. Sophomore Joe Hupp commented on his feelings about Mrs. Nelson’s transfer. 

“ [I’m] Definitely pretty sad because she’s super nice and it’s really nice to talk to her when I get the chance. She’s just overall a really nice person and really helps me.”

Hupp says he’s going to miss Mrs. Nelson’s kindness and how she was there for when he really needed to talk to someone.

Hupp went on to express his hopes for the next counselor hired at Summerville.

“I hope they’re as respectful as she was and as fun,” said Hupp. 

Anther person that was impacted by Mrs. Nelson’s presence here on campus was one of our Grade Level Coordinators, Mrs. Fray.

She described what happens next to find a new counselor for Summerville.

“The minute the letter went out, so did the job posting  because we want to support kids, we don’t want kids to be without somebody [for Mental Health],” said Mrs. Fray. 

Mrs. Fray discussed that she will miss Mrs. Nelson, along with her “good mornings” and “hello”s and the gifts she would leave for the staff.

“She has created this amazing Wellness Center that is going to be a legacy,” Mrs. Fray stated. 

Mrs. Nelson had given Mrs. Fray magnet and letter pictured below.

Mrs. Nelson has impacted many students and will continue to do so until the school finds someone to fulfill her position.