New Counselors at AISG

This year, in addition to the new teachers and students, there are two new counselors––Ms. Cathy Taylor and Ms. Janet Hong––who will be joining our existing counseling office as the new emotional guidance support.

This year will be Ms. Hong’s 6th year of counseling, she joins us from Taejeon Christian International School (TCIS) in South Korea. Growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia where there was lots of green, Ms. Hong finds Guangzhou to be the perfect mixture of city and nature. Ms. Hong shared with me that one of the reasons she decided to come to AISG was because of the sense of community she felt within the students and faculty. She admires how great of a community AISG is, and had previously met some of the AISG students during APAC and liked how they represented themselves. When students approach her, Ms. Hong tries to put herself in their shoes and see from their perspectives to fulfill their needs and tries to be as open-minded as possible. She tries to be a good example for her students and finds the hardest part of her job keeping herself “right” for them. If Ms. Hong could go back in time and give herself advice during her first year of counseling she would tell herself that things happen and that it’s okay to make mistakes. Ms. Hong wants to tell students who are emotionally stressed that “It’s okay, and that it will all be okay.”

Ms. Taylor joins us from Hudson, North Carolina where she taught at South Caldwell High School. Ms. Taylor always knew that she wanted to work in the education industry; when she was in first grade she wanted to be a first grade teacher, when she was in second grade she wanted to be a second grade teacher and so on. As Ms. Taylor got older she really had to think about what type of educator she wanted to be. She realized that getting the opportunity to see and guide a 9th grader grow and learn in high school and eventually become an adult was something she wanted to be a part of. Before coming to Guangzhou, Ms. Taylor did a lot of research while preparing for the interview. She loved the sense of community; she could tell that AISG wasn’t just a school––it was a community where people got together and communicated very well with each other. Her expectations of Guangzhou were completely different than what she has experienced before. She was expecting Guangzhou to be like New York City where the landscape is rather bleak, the ground is all made of concrete, and the streets are swarming with people. She was pleasantly surprised when she arrived at Guangzhou and saw green in many places. Ms. Taylor says the best part about being a student counselor is hanging out with them. She also says that by interacting with students, she feels as if they “keep her young.” Her main piece of advice to students who are emotionally stressed is to TALK. Talking instead of bottling up their feelings will certainly help relive stress.

Ms. Hong and Ms. Taylor are both exited for this new school year as new counselors and are available to conference with students who are emotionally stressed. They hope they can make this year a great year!