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Gateway Middle School counselors outline mental‑health, career and student‑leadership programs ahead of May career fair
Summary
Gateway Middle School counselors presented an overview of year‑round counseling work and extracurricular supports — including a grant‑funded girls group, a mental‑health club that provides $1,000 student project grants, a student podcast with new equipment, and an eighth‑grade career fair set for May 14.
Gateway Middle School counselors on the Gateway School District board agenda described a year of classroom lessons, group supports and career exposure programs they said are intended to boost student wellbeing and post‑secondary awareness.
"My name is Kathy Johnson. I am the eighth grade counselor at Middle School," Johnson told the board as she and colleagues summarized routine counseling work (classroom lessons including a 'safe to say' module, ambassador training and targeted groups for students with academic or social‑emotional needs). Counselors said the department benefits from four full‑time counselors and an administration that provides scheduling flexibility to run extra programming.
Counselors highlighted a grant‑funded seventh‑grade girls program called ROCKS (Ruling Our Experiences), funded by the Jewish Women’s Foundation and run by a nonprofit based in Columbus. Johnson cited a 2025 post‑program report that the counselors said showed higher participant satisfaction and gains in confidence, safety/self‑protection skills and relationship skills; the current ROCKS cohort was reported as 12 girls.
They also described Stand Together, a seventh/eighth‑grade mental‑health club run with school social worker Karen Bret in partnership with the Office of Behavioral Health. Counselors said the program offers a two‑day training and provides three separate $1,000 student project grants each year to support student‑designed work combating stigma and increasing peer support.
The counselors described practical, career‑focused activities as well: tours (Forbes Hospital and the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science), a downtown career fair with Junior Achievement VR headsets and a recent volunteer visit to the Pittsburgh Food Bank where students helped pack nearly 1,000 boxes. Counselors said a fifth‑grade speaker series, a student ambassador program and ongoing tutoring by older students complement those activities.
A student podcast begun last year continues to run; counselors said new hardware (four microphones and booms) now supports middle‑ and high‑school recordings and that the podcasts are posted on the Gateway Middle School counseling website.
Counselors asked for community presenters for the district’s eighth‑grade career fair on May 14, saying presenters should arrive by 9 a.m. and that the event runs in two sessions with a brief intermission. They said the event is open to the public and that the district has advertised on social media and in print.
The presentation closed with brief board questions about logistics and inclusion; counselors said special‑education students are welcome and accommodations would be provided.
