Next Step Magazine's Super Counselor Contest — January '08 winner

Super Counselor: Adam Sikes, senior counselor at Southaven High School in Southaven, Miss.

Nominator: Student Roseanna Thompson

As the senior counselor at Southaven High School in Southaven, Miss., Adam Sikes supports his students applying to colleges every step of the way.

“I love being the 12th grade counselor because I get to see that transition from being a high school student to an adult,” he says. “Their future becomes so much bigger and fuller of opportunities as they approach college and life after high school.”

Sikes was inspired by his own high school counselor. “I wanted to give the same support to future students,” he says.

And he does. “Mr. Sikes goes above and beyond the requirements of a counselor,” says Roseanna Thompson, a student at Southaven High School. “He incorporates the interests of students and graciously takes the time to research schools that fit the individual.”

Seeing students like Thompson succeed is Sikes’ favorite part of his job. “I get to be one of the catalysts that push the students to their potential,” he says. “I love the fact I get to be one of their last memories of high school, the one that pushed them to what they are now.”

Nominate a Super Counselor at nextSTEPmag.com/SuperCounselor.