Rachael Leach and Brianne Shields have joined the counselor staff for North Central Parke Schools. Leach has joined the Turkey Run Elementary School staff while Shields will be working at Parke Heritage Middle School.
This is Leach’s sixth year working in education having previously worked at Bainbridge Elementary and MSD of Warren County (Pine Village, Warren Central and Williamsport Elementary). She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Purdue University.
“I love being able to build relationships with my students and staff,” Leach said. “I love getting to know my students and having the opportunity to support them by helping them learn the social emotional skills they need to be successful. I also love being a part of helping other educators meet the needs of their students.”
Joining her in this new role is Finley, a therapy dog.
“This will be the first year that I will have a facility dog with me at Turkey Run. This has always been a dream of mine since I went to get my master’s to become a school counselor. Finley is an eight-month-old Mini Golden-Doodle and will be helping build healthy relationships, boost self-esteem, decrease anxiety and reduce loneliness with our students.”
In her role as the school counselor she realizes that each day will be different.
“The most challenging part of my job is that you never know what to expect day to day,” she said. “You can have things planned to do and something will come up where you do not get anything done that was on your to do calendar.”
She lives in Crawfordsville with her family members, Erin, Drake, Mallory, Drew and Macy.
Shields is a familiar face to many of the PHMS students. She will be serving as the PHMS school counselor after teaching second grade at Rockville Elementary for 11 years.
In her 18th year of education, she attended Indiana State University for her elementary education degree. She is currently attending Capella University to obtain her master’s degree in school counseling.
“I love my new job,” she said. “I want to be as helpful to students and staff as possible. I am hoping to make as many connections to kids as I can and hoping to make a positive difference at the middle school.”
While she has been enjoying her new role, she realizes that there will be challenges as a school counselor.
“Middle school is hard, no matter who you are,” Shields said. “I am hoping that I can make it easier for kids and their parents. Anything new is challenging and I am trying to learn as fast as I can. My goal for this year is to assist PHMS principal Lisa Wrightsman as best as I can.”
Outside of school, she spends time with her children, Kylen, Kamden, Krede and Keegan.
“I am a very busy mom,” she added. “We like cattle, sheep, running, basketball, football, baseball, and we spend a lot of time cheering on the Boilers.”
