Harbor Ridge Middle School ‘9010 Prentice Avenue Gig Harbor, WA 98332 Phone: (253) 530-1900 Mike Benoit, Principal FAX: (253) 530-1920 Brian Wickens Assistant Principal 331-21 To Whom It May Concern: It is a pleasure to write this letter of support for Katelin Lacoste as she seeks a school counseling position. Katelin spent the majority of the 20-21 school year as a counseling inte at Harbor Ridge Middle Schoo! under the supervision and mentorship of an exceptional school counselor Gayme Lenker). Katelin had a very authentic and quality experience and regularly displayed the aptitude, attitude, work habits, communication and organizational skills necessary to be a quality school counselor. Her mentor provided an opportunity to engage in all aspects of school counseling. Katelin was part of our Student Support Team (SST) which met weekly to address and help remove barriers to learning for students. She followed up weekly with attendance concems and regularly reached out to families as a resource. With the remote platform and switching % of the way through the year to hybrid, she gained a lot of experience navigating our learning management system (Schoology) and was an active part of breaking up and rebuilding our master schedule during the year. She gained a lot of practical experience modifying schedules in Powerschool. We had an SEL focus as a school this year and Katelin was a big part of the implementation. She created weekly SEL lessons, using the State SEL standards, that were distributed to teachers to deliver in their homeroom. In Katelin’s time here she demonstrated strong communication and relational skills. She quickly Bained the trust of the students, staff, and families and became a quality and productive extension of our counseling team. She was eager to learn, take learning risks, and was responsive to constructive feedback that would help her grow. Katelin is ready for the challenges and opportunities as a school counselor and has a lot to contribute to the development and maintenance of a positive and productive school climate, I recommend her without reservation. She will make a positive and lasting difference for your school. If you would like to discuss her candidacy further, please reach out (253) 530-1901. Sincerely, Principal, Harbor Ridge Middle School : i saat