go to school and they did it,” Dudley said. 

     “When I saw them a couple months later and they said ‘Oh I am in school, it's going great!’, and it was like I knew what I should do, it was like a lightbulb.”

     Dudley cherishes the tight-knit community within the faculty team. She also takes pride in being a counselor at Rose in particular.

     “We specifically in student services get along very well to the point where we were even asked to present to the county on teamwork and how we work well together, and that makes a huge difference in my day-to-day,” Dudley said. 

     Not only does Dudley admire the staff here at Rose, but they feel the same way about her. 

     “She is super warm and heartfelt and everything she really does is like a commitment to the kids,” school counselor Alayna Maness said.

      Department Chair and Lead Counselor Chista Monroe also feels that Dudley exhibits empathy not only through her students but also throughout everyone at Rose. 

     “Ms. Dudley truly wears her heart on her sleeve and has a huge heart for her students as she goes above and beyond to make sure they are taken care of,” Monroe said.

     With Rose’s enrollment being over 1300 students and only five different counselors to help adjust schedules, sign up for classes, and most importantly make sure you graduate, the job can become extremely stressful and busy. Dudley feels that while sometimes her overwhelming job can become demanding, she wouldn't trade it for anything else. 

     “There is a lot that goes into it and that is one of the best parts about counseling,” Dudley said. “Today I have worked on attendance meetings, filling out scholarship forms, and given some twilight contracts; It is sort of all over the place, which can be great and frustrating all at the same time.”

     As a high school counselor, a lot of patience is required to efficiently aid her students. Again, that can come with frustration and stress, but Dudley spends a lot of time with her husband to help maintain a healthy life-work balance. 

     “My husband is also in education, so it helps that we can talk it out a lot of times since we're both in it, we have a better understanding than we probably wouldn't have otherwise,” Dudley said. 

     Not only does Dudley have extremely busy days while assisting students, but she also holds other positions in parts of the school while maintaining her responsibilities and duties as a counselor. 

     “I am an equity partner for the school, and I am on [the] School Improvement Team (SIT), the scholarship team, and I am in a COP, which is a community of practice that looks at equity in classes,” Dudley said. 

     When Dudley isn't in the office, she has quite a creative personality where she has a lot of different hobbies and interests to keep her occupied in her free time. 

     “I love to do artsy stuff, I'm not great at it, and I have a tendency to start things and then as soon as I figure out how to do it, not perfect it, just how to do it, I kind of move onto the next thing,” said Dudley. “I'll do jewelry making, and this summer I hand painted a mural in my house.”

     As high school counselors help pave the way for the majority of students to lead them to success, it is important to highlight all they do for the students, and will also make Rose's counselors feel more noticed and appreciated!

     “I don’t think, a lot of times, people know all the things that we do on a daily basis and so it is nice to know that [students] are even interested,” Dudley said.