Dr. Randy McPherson: Hi! I'm Dr. Randy McPherson the 2011 American School Counselor Association, Counselor of the year, and a national board certified school counselor at Trezevant Career and Technology Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

School counselors are crucial to student success. In this video series, a fellow counselor Michele James and I will help to explain what a school counselor does, and what our role is in the school. We'll discuss how parents could work with counselors as partners for their child's success. We'll tackle the important topic of bullying and provide you with some tips on how your children can be safe in the cyber world. We'll look at how school counselors deal with crises, and finally I'll talk about how counselors help students prepare for life after high school, in college, their future careers and beyond. Before we begin our series let me tell you a little bit about the American School Counselor Association and about my philosophy as well. ASCA is a non-profit professional organization that promotes student success by expanding the image and influence of professional school counseling, the leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and systemic change. Based in Alexandria Virginia just a few miles from our nation's capital, ASCA provides more than 28,000 members with the tools they need to guide students toward academic achievement, personal and social development, and career planning. My experience includes teaching graduate classes in education and serving as a counselor in both college and high school environments, so let's begin.