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As a counselor at Caldwell Early College High School, Donna Doughty believes she has the best job around.
“With the focus on preparing students for college, careers and life, the vision of our school and of NC New Schools is so closely aligned with what a counselor is supposed to do: helping students think about their classes, their future career and their personal well-being,” says Doughty. “When your whole school is dedicated to helping every student reach their full potential, it’s a dream job. I feel like I came home when I came to work in this high school.”
After spending seven years in the largest traditional high school in the county, Doughty says her experience at Caldwell ECHS is “almost a completely different job.” Instead of focusing on scheduling, testing or other time-consuming tasks, her role at Caldwell Early College primarily includes consulting with teachers, students and parents. Whether she’s working closely with the 5th year seminar teacher around college applications and college entrance exams or taking a group of students to Charlotte to see the opera, Doughty is deeply connected in the school.
“We are all responsible for the leadership of the school,” says Doughty. “I am integrated into making decisions about how the school will run and how we support students. I work specifically with a small group of faculty on the personalization, focusing on how best to meet student needs through after-school programs and other supports for students.”
The emphasis on personalization — one of NC New Schools’ six Design Principles — includes a school culture that creates a sense of family. Doughty says everyone at Caldwell ECHS is there to support each other and bring out the best in each other.
“I see students from eight different feeder schools make the transition to high school with all the normal anxieties. So we spend a lot of time team building and getting to know each other,” says Doughty. “As they go through the first semester, I see a sense of relief and pride. They come to school and they’re engaged, learning, excited. As they grow and dig into harder classes, sometimes they struggle, but they know they have the support of their teachers and peers.”
Doughty sees connecting with parents as a critical element in her role at the school. Because early colleges focus on reaching first-generation college-going students, the emphasis on postsecondary education can be intimidating for parents who didn’t experience college themselves. As a counselor, she helps support parents in that transition.
“We work really hard to bring parents into the culture, and I get to be very involved in the outreach to partner with parents,” says Doughty. “Regardless of their own education or careers, they have hopes and dreams for their kids that we can tap into. Parents want their kids to go to college, but they also fear the thought of losing students in that change. What they want most is also what they fear. We can help bridge that cultural gap.”
Doughty adds that she can also support what’s going in the classroom when she talks with parents. Because she understands the Design Principles and the NC New Schools’ approach to teaching and learning known as the Aligned Instructional Strategies, she’s able to explain to parents what’s happening and why it may not look like the traditional approach they might expect in a high school.
Being in an innovative school makes the support from NC New Schools critical, says Doughty. “There are a lot of things to figure out because we’re all being challenged and pushed and given the opportunity to support students in ways we couldn’t in traditional high school. When someone says anything is possible, that’s awesome and terrifying at the same time. Having a network within NC New Schools to turn to is key for navigating the interface with the community college and getting ideas for the best ways to manage logistics.”
“Donna has always been a huge advocate for students and is fully committed to making a difference,” says Antonia Johnson, program director with NC New Schools. “She’s also an active participant in our counselor forum, so she’s truly engaged in bringing innovation into her school and sharing best practices across the state.”
A native of South Carolina, Doughty has worked in Caldwell County for the past 26 years. She began her career in community mental health as a child and adolescent therapist. She shifted to school counseling in 1999 and worked several years in a large traditional high school before joining the founding faculty of Caldwell Early College in 2006. Doughty holds a bachelor’s degree from Presbyterian College, where she majored in psychology and minored in music, and master’s degrees in clinical psychology and school counseling from Appalachian State University.
