Notes From an ACCIS Skeptic
Katie Gayman, Phillips Andover
November 20, 2024
Full disclosure: I am a skeptic of professional organizations. When I became a college counselor in 2009, I entered the profession as a teacher, in both formal title and identity. And though I gave up my duties running science labs and grading lab reports long ago, I still view myself as a counselor/teacher. Therefore, when I attended my first NACAC (two Baltimores ago), I glanced around at the throngs of counselors wearing name badges adorned in “flare,” many hugging each other and squealing in delight, and I wondered, are these my people?
I felt similarly walking into my first ACCIS Summer Institute. When I entered the lobby to check in on the Mount Vernon campus at GW, it seemed like everyone already knew each other. So, I did what we hope our students will do on their first day of college: put the name tag on, took a deep breath, began shaking hands, and embraced the discomfort.
Instead of a whirlwind (like other conferences can often feel), that first SI felt like a salve for the messy and still tangled loose ends embedded in my first caseloads. There were experienced folks there to affirm many of my decisions and others who offered spot-on suggestions for how to adjust my future practice. There was even a session devoted to infusing FUN into the daily life of the college office.
After a few SI’s, some time on the bus with fellow counselors on college visits, and attendance at ACCIS gatherings at NACAC and beyond, I gradually began to feel like one of those counselors with “flare.” It turns out, these were, in fact, “my people,” and not because our identities or life experiences closely overlapped. They didn’t! That was the point.
My conversations with ACCIS colleagues have been robust, challenging, and fruitful. As a white, cis-gendered, straight woman working within the majority in our profession, I am grateful for my ACCIS colleagues with non-overlapping identities who have pushed me in profound ways to think boldly about how I show up for non-white students, for trans students, and for students who are wrestling with and/or celebrating the intersections of their identities. And as a person who was raised in a large, underfunded public school system, I still struggle with whether working at an independent school aligns with my personal mission. Guess what? Many ACCIS colleagues wrestle with the same question! If you’re brave enough to find them, these connections can be clarifying and soul feeding.
Three years ago, I decided it was time to shed my skepticism and raise my hand. I applied to lead the ACCIS Communications Committee. To my surprise, my application was accepted, and what followed were monthly zooms with a phenomenal group of counselors from across the country accompanied by regular check-ins with Executive Director, Emmi Harward and Director of Member Services and Operations, Linda Pierre.
As a team of professionals, we accomplished a lot together and generated some wonderful ACCIS initiatives. But when I look back on the experience, what emerges from the work are the lingering, thought-provoking conversations, the unlikely relationships, and the sense that I belong. These are my people, and no matter your background, identity, or life experience, ACCIS people are your people, too. It’s time to let go of your inner skeptic, register for an ACCIS event, join a committee, slap on your name tag, and embrace your college counseling “flare.”