![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PANA6976-1024x683.jpg\")
Dr. Jacqueline Sanderlin addresses the audience at the 2024 Orange County Counselor Symposium on Feb. 7 at the Hilton Anaheim.<\/p>\n\nDr. Jacqueline Sanderlin addresses the audience at the 2024 Orange County Counselor Symposium on Feb. 7 at the Hilton Anaheim.<\/p>\n
Quick look:\u00a0OCDE will honor outstanding school counselors at the 12th Annual Orange County Counselor Symposium. The event will also offer variety of breakout sessions on supporting students\u2019 academic, emotional and career success.<\/p>\n
The Orange County Department of Education is inviting educators to attend the 12th Annual Orange County Counselor Symposium<\/a> on Feb. 4 during National School Counseling Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n The OCDE-led event will honor this year\u2019s finalists for School Counselors and Advocates of the Year<\/a> while offering professional learning opportunities through breakout sessions and a keynote address centered around this year\u2019s theme, \u201cWords Are Your Superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n The sold-out symposium will be held at the Hilton Orange County\/Costa Mesa and will bring together school counselors, district and site administrators, and student-support professionals from across the county. Orange County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stefan Bean is also scheduled to attend and formally announce the seven school counseling professionals recognized for excellence in leadership and dedication to supporting students\u2019 academic success and well-being.<\/p>\n \u201cRecognizing school counselors through the Counselor Recognition Program reinforces OCDE\u2019s commitment to Dr. Bean\u2019s 5-3-1 Plan<\/a> by elevating professionals who advance student well-being, academic achievement, and future readiness,\u201d said Karina Siwecki, the school counseling coordinator at OCDE. \u201cHonoring exemplary counseling practice underscores how counselors contribute to systemwide improvement and positive student outcomes\u00a0across Orange County.\u201d<\/p>\n Honorees were nominated by their peers and selected based on their professional standards, impact, leadership and service to students. Awards include Elementary, Middle and High School Counselors of the Year, as well as counselors representing alternative education and community colleges. Two Advocates of the Year \u2014 one from K-12 education and one from community colleges \u2014 were also selected.<\/p>\n Dr. Kevin J. Fleming will headline the symposium with a keynote presentation on how intentional communication plays a pivotal role in helping students achieve success.<\/p>\n After, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in 40 different breakout sessions covering topics such as youth-driven approaches to mental health awareness and the use of artificial intelligence as a tool for career exploration and education. Sessions are designed to support the whole-child approach to student development in alignment with California\u2019s Multi-Tiered System of Supports<\/a> framework.<\/p>\n Below is the complete list of the 2026 Orange County Counselors and Advocates of the Year.<\/p>\n Elementary School Counselor of the Year Middle School Counselor of the Year High School Counselor of the Year Alternative Education School Counselor of the Year School Counseling Advocate of the Year Community College Counselor of the Year Community College Counseling Advocate of the Year
Marianne Lawson, MS, PPS
El Morro Elementary
Laguna Beach Unified School District<\/p>\n
Taylor Tsang
Legacy Magnet Academy
Tustin Unified School District<\/p>\n
Kara McCann, PPS, LPCC
Orange County School of the Arts<\/p>\n
Dr. Ashley Nguyen
Huntington Beach Adult School
Huntington Beach Union High School District<\/p>\n
Connie Jacobs, MS, PPS
Irvine Unified School District<\/p>\n
Eric Garcia
Irvine Valley College
South Orange County Community College District<\/p>\n
Dr. Dora Elena Escobar, Ed.D., L.M.F.T.
Santiago Canyon College
Rancho Santiago Community College District<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr. Jacqueline Sanderlin addresses the audience at the 2024 Orange County Counselor Symposium on Feb. 7 at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-145302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}