Walking into Charles M. Russell High School students see the smiling faces of the counseling staff. One face stands out from the rest. Jacie Schoenen looks bright-eyed and ready to work. 

Schoenen has been a counselor at CMR for 17 years for students with the last name H-L. She began her career as a teacher at Glendive Middle School in eastern Montana. She taught eighth grade English for two years. As a young teacher, Schoenen and her husband decided to move to Clark County, Las Vegas. Her husband had a job set up in Las Vegas before moving, but Schoenen moved with no job lined up. She was hired to teach at an inner city school in downtown Las Vegas, near Fremont. There she taught freshman and sophomore English classes as well as a sophomore Read-Write class with students who had deficient skills in reading and writing. She also coached the girls volleyball team in the spring and boys volleyball in the fall. After teaching there for three years, Schoenen decided to apply for a job as a psychology teacher at one of the wealthiest public high schools in America. She soon got divorced and decided to travel back to her home state of Montana and has been at CMR for 22 years. 

“That’s always been really interesting to me, like why people do what they do and sociology and all that’s very interesting to me. And I knew I went into teaching because I wanted to help people,” she said.

Counseling seemed the clear choice as Schoenen has a psychology minor. Being able to help students has always been an enjoyable experience, she said, adding that teaching and counseling are two very different experiences. As a counselor, Schoenen can never plan a predictable day as a teacher can. Getting used to the hustle and bustle of the counseling office proved to be a challenge for Schoenen as she had completely adapted to the teaching lifestyle. Counseling students comes with its challenges, but her favorite part of the job is watching different families grow up in the school. Getting to know all of the kids is a wonderful part of Schoenen’s day, but she admits that she is unable to really get to know them, as she doesn’t see students everyday.

A good counselor includes being a good listener and being non judgmental, meeting people where they are and knowing when they need to just talk or when action is needed, she said. Communicating with students is the most important part of any job but especially a counseling job. Schoenen admits she could never do as good a job without the CMR staff by her side.

“A good teacher is worth his or her weight in gold.”