10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
Local
What it’s like to be a …
Middle School counselor
With college students
choosing majors and high
school students deciding
between college or the
workforce, this series will
highlight one career path
each week in August and
September.
This week, we introduce
you to Silas Turner, Baker
Middle School Counselor.
After beginning to teach,
he felt counseling is where
his heart was.
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The BCP: Tell me a little
about your background.
Silas: I’ll take it back to
High School. I graduated
from Powder Valley High
School (in North Powder)
in 1994. I had a great
experience there; it was
just a good base for my
career in education. I had
great teachers there that
challenged me and pushed
me and I really credit a lot
of my base as far as my
interest in education to my
experience in High School.
So, from there I received a
Bachelor’s Degree in His-
tory from Eastern Oregon
University in La Grande.
I always wanted to be a
History teacher and got a
job with the Baker Middle
School back in 2003 as
a part-time social studies
teacher and a part time
woodworking teacher. It
was an interesting split.
I do have a background
in cabinetry and wood-
working, and so it was ac-
tually a really fun experi-
ence for me and I enjoyed
the diversity—going from
building birdhouses to
talking about the Second
World War. In the spring
of 2007 I had a little bit of
change in my career goals.
I really enjoy working kids
and I wanted to work with
them more, so I enrolled
in Grad School at Adams
State University out of
Alamosa, Colorado. I
wanted to become a school
Counselor and I researched
a lot of different school
counseling programs
across the nation and
settled on Adams State. It
was a two-year program
and the district (5J) was
really flexible with me, a -
lowing me to work in this
capacity and attend school
as well for the Master’s
Degree program.
The BCP: Were you
able to do that Master’s
Program online?
Silas: Yes, it’s a cool
program. Throughout the
academic school year it’s
online but they require you
attend on campus for two
summer intensives, that’s
what they called them, and
it was intense (he laughed).
Very grateful for that op-
portunity. So, I’ve actually
been the school counselor
here since the fall of 2007.
The BCP: Tell me about
how a typical day starts for
you and flows?
Silas: (Laughing) I
learned really fast in the
counseling world that
um— I do have a frame-
work for each and every
day and I have goals and
objectives that I’d like to
accomplish but no two
days are the same espe-
cially with this age group
– but I love it! I love that
almost unpredictability
about this age group. A
NRAC sends draft
plan to County
Commissioners
for second time
Silas Turner is the counselor at Baker Middle School.
typical day might start
out with me working in a
classroom. I try to get into
the classrooms and do a lot
of preventative work on
situations and challenges
that I know kids are going
to have.
The BCP: Do you have
an open door policy here
for the students?
Silas: I do. I make sure
the kids know that my door
is always open and make
sure they know where
my office is. We’ve just
found that that is the best
practice, if we can get kids
in this age group talking to
us and let us know what’s
eating at them.
The BCP: This is such a
hard age for kids.
Silas: It is. I remem-
ber what it was like for
me, and I have to remind
myself of that there is just
so much going on develop-
mentally.
The BCP: What advice
would you give to anyone
exploring this career path?
Silas: I think it’s an
awesome career choice if
your passion is working
with kids and wanting to
make a difference daily
in the life of kids. Some-
times you don’t see that
difference made tangibly.
I’ve has students come up
to me years later and say
‘Mr. Turner, Thank you.’
And I didn’t feel like I was
having an impact at the
time. My advice would be
sometimes you don’t see
the immediate impact that
you are having but if you
have a passion for kids and
working with kids … I en-
joy my career, I really do.
The BCP: How easy or
hard is it for you to leave
the job at work?
Silas: My mentor,
Aaron Moxon he is just an
amazing individual—the
first two years I was here
he mentored me and came
in twice a week for two
years and he said to me,
‘Tf you’re not going to get
burned out in this job you
have to be able to leave it
at the door.’ And I’d like to
say I could do that imme-
diately but it took me some
time to do that.
The BCP: What would
you say is the saddest story
you’ve encountered?
Silas: Without getting
too specific, we have had
some tragedies in our
community in recent years.
Working so closely with
kids and families, we are
a small community. I have
a passion for the people in
this community and their
tragedies affect us here and
their hardships.
The BCP: What has
been the happiest?
Silas: Helping kids build
resilience in their lives.
Kids that from might come
from underprivileged back-
grounds and seeing them
build on the strengths that
they have inside of them
and becoming resilient
young adults in spite of
their circumstances. Hon-
estly that is what keeps me
going. It brings me a lot of
joy. Kids overcoming.
The BCP: What would
you say is your least fa-
vorite thing about being a
school councilor?
Silas: Oh, that is a hard
one. I’d have to think
about that one. I guess the
small amount of time I
get with the kids, it’s only
two years they are here.
To middle school kids that
seems like a long time but
it just really isn’t.
The BCP: What has
been your biggest chal-
lenge?
Silas: The grad school
program was intense; it
really was their whole
philosophy was, ‘You
cannot be a counselor until
you have overcome your
own issues.’ They really
wanted to ensure that they
were putting forth quali-
fied professional school
counselors in that program.
It was rigorous. I would
work here and then have
4-5 hours of homework. I
was getting up at 4 in the
morning and typing papers.
At the time it seemed like
‘Whoa, two years of this?
It’s never going to end.’
But looking back I’m so
glad it was challenging I
wouldn’t change it.
The BCP: Are require-
ments different for a school
counselor than a Licensed
Therapist, an LCSW?
Silas: A little. I took the
school counselor track, the
only difference was a mat-
ter of one less semester.
The alignment for school
counselor and LCSW is
pretty similar, the differ-
ence being in my program
they wanted you to be
proactive and preventative
in your schools. You know
what the issues are going
to be let’s get out there
and talk to teachers, kids,
parents.
The BCP: When an
emergency occurs, how are
those situations handled?
Silas: Well, of course
we have the standard drills
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Fire, earthquake. We are
planning on doing lock-
down and evacuation drills
this year. What we really
want to do is prepare kids
for those situations, prep
them for the drills explain
what they will look like
and educate them.
The BCP: And what If
an incident occurs where
the SRO is called. Do you
get involved as well? For
say, a fight
Silas: Mine is more of
a secondary role in those
situations. The cool thing
about my job is I wouldn’t
have to be involved in any
of the investigating or de-
cision regarding discipline.
The BCP: What if a
student and teacher have a
problem?
Silas: I speak with them
either separately together
or both. What I really try
to do is problem solve and
what I find is that 99% of
the time it is just miscom-
munication and perception.
I enjoy that part of the job
and I really try to sup-
port staff in working with
students.
The BCP: Since you are
a school district employee
you get summers off? How
do you spend those?
Silas: I work for the For-
est Service, out at the Air
Tanker Base in La Grande,
loading up the planes with
fire retardant.
The BCP: I know a lot
of teachers have to con-
tinue to keep up with their
education, often during the
summer do you have to do
continuing education?
Silas: Yes, in fact it’s
a little more rigorous for
counselors, as it should be
we have to continue to take
graduate level courses. I
just finished one up in fact,
it was a course in school
violence.
The BCP: Parting
thoughts, words?
Silas: We have begun the
career pathways program
here at the Baker Middle
School. We are going to
expose them to options,
let them know what is out
there. Maybe they’ll find
something that interests
them and stick with it.
As far as the career, it
is just rewarding in so
many different ways. It is
a dynamic career, you’re
working with different kids
different families every
year. There are so many
really good families in this
community.
The Baker County Natural Resource Advisory Com-
mittee (NRAC), through a majority vote, approved the
County’s 42-page final draft Natural Resource Plan
(NRP) last Thursday, September 10, 2015, in the Com-
mission Chambers of the County Courthouse. This is the
second time the draft has been approved—a revote taken
due to complaints about the amount of notice given prior
to the last meeting. The adoption of the NRP was recom-
mended to the County Commission on Wednesday of this
week for approval; however, that failed to happen.
Present for the NRAC meeting, which began at 3 p.m.,
were County Commission Chair Bill Harvey, County
Commission Executive Assistant Heidi Martin, NRAC
Chair Doni Bruland, NRAC Coordinator Eric Wuntz, and
NRAC members Kody Justus, Lyle Defrees, Dick Flem-
ing, Eileen Gyllenberg, Laurene Chapman, Alice Knapp,
Cynthia Long, Jan Kerns, Craig Ward, Emily Braswell,
Chuck Chase, Ken Anderson, and Jake Bingham.
Lorrie Harvey, Craig Bruland, John and Ramona
Creighton, and Wanda Ballard were also in attendance.
Doni and Harvey introduced and briefly described Wun-
tz’s role as NRAC Coordinator, also stating that Wuntz
will be working half-time in that position.
Ramona was the sole speaker during both of the public
participation segments of the meeting, after the introduc-
tions, and later after the NRP discussion and vote. During
the initial segment, she said, “I really do hope that today,
there’s going to be a resolution to this (adopting the
NRP), because, we’ve attended some other meetings with
other counties, and, they’re actually waiting to see what
Baker County does. As far as I’m concerned, I know
it’s not perfect, but it’s not written in stone, and it can be
changed at any time…”
During the public participation segments, each member
of the public is given three minutes to speak on natural
resource topics only.
Harvey said, “At this time, I’d like to just help people
understand the parameters of what we’re doing today.
We’re going to be voting on the Natural Resources Plan,
and it’s going to be as it was presented to you before. In
regards to that, this is the plan. This is not a zoning ordi-
nance. This is going to be a workable document, that will
be altered or adjusted at your discretion, with meetings,
of information being brought to you for discussion and
consensus, and then, voting on, and then presenting your
suggestions to the Board of Commissioners. So, that’s
where we’re at at this point in time.”
He said that on Monday, the Commission issued a letter
invoking the process of coordination with the U.S. Forest
Service (USFS) and other agencies. He also said that
progress was good regarding meetings with the USFS,
Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), etc., to discuss
topics such as salvage logging..
“It’s going to be pretty full (the future coordination/
meetings process), with salvage logging, road improve-
ments, things we have to address because of the fires sit -
ation. We’re going to be pretty busy doing that for quite
a while. It gets quite divided up, because we’ve got BLM
(Bureau of Land Management), Oregon Department of
Forestry, private lands, and Forest Service lands out there.
All of them are greatly affected. All of them need help.
We’re attempting to do all-encompassing, the same treat-
ment on all the lands,” Harvey said.
After those comments, Doni asked the group for a mo-
tion to vote to adopt the NRP, and it was so moved, and
seconded.
Harvey explained that Jan Alexander, Arvid Andersen,
and Page Frederickson, all absent from the meeting, voted
via email, and their votes would be counted as specified
Kerns asked if the vote for the current NRP would
include the section titled Energy, and Harvey responded
that the vote would include the section covering energy
sources, as-is. He then said that the Planning Department
hasn’t finished its work regarding zoning ordinances co -
ering energy sources, and he explained that it’s necessary
to wait for that to happen (possibly up to eight months),
in order to have consistency with that department.
Knapp voiced some concerns about the timber industry
and the Forest Resources section of the NRP, and Doni
read the following excerpt from the first paragraph of that
section, stating that it hasn‘t been removed: “In order for
the County to provide and maintain roads, schools and
other services, the forest industry and the forest products
commerce within the county must be encouraged and
strengthened.”
After some confusion about which version of the NRP
the group would be voting to adopt, Harvey and Bruland
reiterated that it’s the same one the NRAC reviewed and
approved at the August 18th meeting, and changes could
be made at a later date.
Ward said, “I looked over the Weeds section, which is
somewhat incomplete and inaccurate, and I drew some-
thing up which didn’t change much, but, it actually makes
it very explicit and precise for the Board of Commission-
ers. If we vote on this plan, that (the original section)
was somewhat ridiculous, whereas, I have document I can
insert.”
Harvey said he hadn’t received Ward’s document until
that day, and he said time would be needed to discuss the
document. Ward said, “So, we’re going to vote on a plan
that’s incomplete?”
Harvey said, “Yes, you will, actually, because, every
plan that’s proposed is incomplete, according to some-
body.”
SEE NRAC PAGE 11