Lupita Zavala (Hood-Case Elementary), Rita Pourchot (Mark Twain Elementary), and Lauren Johns & Liliana Moreno (Harby Jr. High School) have been recognized as recipients of the 2024 Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas (CREST) award. These distinguished school counselors join an elite group of educators from across the state who exemplify excellence in their profession.
The CREST award, sponsored by the Texas School Counselor Association (TSCA), honors schools that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling. This model focuses on fostering student achievement and personal growth in academic, career, and social-emotional domains.
“I take pride in being a professional school counselor and am honored to work beside some of the best counselors in Texas. It has always been important to me to have a comprehensive school counseling program that meets the needs of our students that is supported by data, allows collaboration with stakeholders, and is aligned with our district goals,” shared Lauren Johns, Harby Jr. High Counselor.
To earn the CREST designation, counselors submitted applications featuring five in-depth sections detailing their campus counseling programs’ design, implementation, and impact. These applications were rigorously evaluated by the TSCA CREST evaluation team using a detailed scoring rubric.
“School counselors have always worked in the background to ensure all of the key components to student success are in place,” shared Amber Dixon, District Coordinator of Guidance and Counseling. “Winning the CREST Award provides a wonderful acknowledgment and visual representation of what that background work entails. It’s such an honor to work alongside such dedicated school counselors!”
Winners will be formally recognized during the annual TSCA conference on February 2 at the Galveston Convention Center, where they will receive their official awards and banners.
