story by Claire Miller
In her four years in environmental advocacy and nonprofit work, Angela Jiang’s favorite moments were collaborating with young people on climate justice projects.
When she decided she wanted to change careers, she reached out to her former career counselor and worked alongside him for six months. Watching him connect with young people about their career goals sparked an idea: Perhaps she could become a counselor herself.
Jiang was accepted into the College of Education & Human Development’s school counseling master’s program. She credits Clinical Assistant Professor Bobby Gueh for encouraging her to be open-minded when interacting with her classmates and to embrace everything the program had to offer.
“In our ethics course, Dr. Gueh sent a survey out about our class. I wrote my two cents about how I’d had some burnout in my career so far, how I’d experienced microaggressions and how I was afraid of having those experiences again,” she explained. “The next day, he pulled me aside to talk about my survey answers. He validated what I felt and said he would be there for me throughout the program. And I’ve had the best experience bonding with my cohort, thanks to him.”
She also worked closely with Associate Professor Erin Mason as a member of her doctoral research team. Jiang and Mason co-authored a paper and gave a presentation together at the Georgia School Counseling Association’s annual conference.
Gueh and Mason stand out to Jiang as examples of the kind of professional she wants to be.
“I want to follow in Dr. Mason and Dr. Gueh's steps to become a counselor-educator, where I can focus on bringing more underrepresented groups into this profession – specifically, Latinx and Asian-American counselors – and to become a lifelong advocate for the profession,” she said.
Jiang was recognized for her academic achievements at the College of Education & Human Development’s annual Honors Day Ceremony on April 16.
She is the 2024 recipient of the Outstanding School Counseling Student Award, which recognizes a student’s initiative, leadership, advocacy and service to the school counseling profession and program.
She’s grateful that her professors selected her for the award and recognize her passion for counseling.
“I think empowerment is the best word for it,” Jiang said of receiving the award. “I was one of the few people in our program who didn’t come from a school-based background, and I had a lot of imposter syndrome. But receiving this award is one of the validating points of wrapping up my graduate experience. I’m following in the footsteps of my supervisors and professors, and I can have an impact on students just like they’ve had an impact on me.”
For more information about this year’s Honors Day recipients, visit https://education.gsu.edu/cehd-honors-day.