Mr. Patrick Handrahan is the new counselor at Pattonville High School and will be working with students with last names from Se-Z.

He didn’t always want to be a counselor and he actually went back to school to get certified after working in the classroom as a teacher first. He realized he liked what counseling had to offer.

“It’s the best job I ever had besides delivering pizza.”

Handrahan went back to school after not wanting to be a counselor right away, but once he had talked with people about being a counselor, he knew that’s what he would really enjoy doing.

“I’m just being a person in the school that doesn’t tell kids that things are going to be OK but kind of just there to support students, and even teachers, while they figure things out.”

Handrahan wants to help people realize they have way more power than they really think.

He said it’s all about the little things like “calling kids that are missing school just to make them sure that I was thinking about them.”

Handrahan knows it can be easy to get lost in the school and he just wants to make kids feel welcomed by saying good morning to them and even just checking up with students.

“There really is someone who’s rooting for them.”