COUNSELORS RECOGNIZED FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICE

The Virginia School Counselors Association has selected Jennifer Barna, guidance counselor at Graham Park Middle School, as Middle School Counselor of the Year and Etta Jane Hall, Elementary Guidance Coordinator for Prince William County Public Schools, as Supervisor of the Year.

Hall and Barna also were recognized locally by the Prince William Regional Counselors Association as Supportive Supervisor of the Year and Counselor of the Year, respectively. The Regional Counselors Association also selected Luz Lema, guidance counselor at Featherstone Elementary School, as Counselor of the Year and named Linda Leibert, Principal at Benton Middle School, as Supportive Administrator of the Year.

Jennifer Barna received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and her graduate degree in school counseling from James Madison University in Virginia. Barna is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in counselor education from Virginia Tech University. A guidance counselor at Graham Park Middle School since August 2000, Barna is also a group facilitator for the Turn Off the Violence Program, working with at risk students in violence prevention.

The teachers and staff at Graham Park Middle School speak highly of Barna’s varied
abilities and motivation. As one nominator said, “…she is the most self-less, giving, kind, understanding, and competent child advocate that I have ever come across, in all my years in teaching and child advocacy.”

Etta Jane Hall, Virginia Supervisor of the Year, graduated from Morehead State University with a degree in elementary education. She earned two master’s degrees, the first in emotional disturbance from University of Louisville and the second in educational leadership from George Mason University. Hall joined the Prince William County school division in 1979 to teach at Graham Park Middle School. She became an elementary guidance counselor at Kilby Elementary School in 1988 and in 1996 became Coordinator of Guidance and Counseling in Student Services.

Hall has served in major leadership roles for the Prince William Regional Counselors Association and the Virginia School Counselors Association. In Prince William, she established monthly counselor in-services and developed a local Assessment Task Force, implementing the collection of results-based data to shift the focus from what counselors do to how students are better because of their work.

Luz Lema, Elementary School Counselor of the Year, received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Interamerican University in Puerto Rico. She earned a graduate degree in counseling from Mississippi State University and received her certification from the National Board of Certified Counselors. In 1995 she began her work with children as a teacher’s aide and counselor’s intern in Puerto Rico. She was also a counseling intern in Stafford, Virginia, before becoming a guidance counselor at Featherstone Elementary School in 1999. While this is Lema’s first counseling position, her nominators are clearly impressed with her abilities, her energy and her performance. Among many favorable remarks, the second grade teachers at Featherstone credited Lema with “a rise in attendance at school functions since her support of the Hispanic community.” Lema acts as an administrative designee when the principal is out of the building, and is the chairperson of the assembly committee.

Linda Leibert, Supportive Administrator of the Year, graduated with a B.S. in science from Westminster College in Pennsylvania and received her graduate degree from Cleveland State University. She is licensed in Virginia as a teacher of general science and biology and as a Principal K-12.

Leibert joined Prince William County Public Schools in 1979. She taught at Stonewall Middle School and Osbourn Park High School and was Assistant Principal at Osbourn Park and Parkside Middle School before her appointment in 1999 as Principal of Benton Middle School, which opened in 2000. Leibert is a lifetime member of the Parent Teacher Association. Her nominators say, “She epitomizes the very best in her field…”

###

News Releases / Community Relations / PWCS Home