Briana Meyer named 2024 Oregon School Counselor of the Year

Briana Meyer, school counselor at Hedrick Middle School in Medford, Oregon (Medford School District 549C), has been named the 2024 Oregon School Counselor of the Year by the Oregon School Counselor Association (OSCA). Meyer, a graduate of Oregon State University – Cascades’s Masters of School Counseling Program, has been a counselor for 5 years and has been with Hedrick Middle School since 2020.

This award honors the professional school counselor who devotes their career to serving as advocates for students by addressing their academic achievement, social-emotional development, and career and college readiness.

Meyer is known for her leadership in her building and throughout the district and was the 2023-2024 Counselor of the Year for the Medford School District. Meyer built an ASCA-aligned school counseling program at Hedrick Middle School which has been adopted at other schools in the district. Meyer has implemented numerous interventions - including small groups, a peer mediation program and one-on-one targeted meetings - to reduce students’ social anxiety, provide academic support, explore and prepare for careers, and help build peer relationship skills. She has also collaborated with middle school and high school counselors across the district to create supportive and seamless transitions for all middle school students, and she is a Crisis Prevention Trainer for Medford School District.

Meyer was honored as the 2024 Oregon School Counselor of the Year at the Oregon School Counselor Association Annual Conference in Eugene, OR on Friday, October 24, 2025. She will be considered a candidate for the 2026 American School Counselor Association School Counselor of the Year award.

School Counselor of the Year (SCOY)

The School Counselor of the Year (SCOY) Award honors the best of the best - counselors who run a top-notch, comprehensive school counseling program at the elementary, middle or high school level. Please nominate your colleague who you feel exemplifies these qualities! The winner of the Oregon SCOY Award will receive a $1,000 monetary award, as well as travel and registration for the OSCA Annual Conference.

We also submit the Oregon SCOY to the application pool for the ASCA National School Counselor of the Year award. The Oregon SCOY will hold the privilege of representing OSCA at the ASCA SCOY Gala.

We will announce the 2024-25 School Counselor of the Year at the OSCA Annual Conference on October 25, 2024.

Linda C. Eby Scholarship

COMING SOON!

We will begin accepting applications for the Linda C. Eby Scholarship in February 2025. Start telling your students about this great opportunity to fund their future.

OSCA is pleased to provide three scholarships for high school seniors. The goal of this scholarship is to recognize outstanding high school seniors and School Counselors in the state of Oregon.

Linda C. Eby served as a School Counselor for 33 years. She was on the Oregon School Counselor Association Board for 20 years. Her time and commitment to this profession was recognized in the Fall of 2014 when she received the Lifetime Achievement Award and the OSCA Board named its’ first-ever high school scholarship after her. The goal of this scholarship is to recognize outstanding high school seniors and School Counselors in the state of Oregon.

Eligibility and Guidelines

• Applicants must be high school seniors planning to pursue a post-secondary education.
• Please submit an essay of no more than 500 words about a school counselor who has made a difference in your academic, career, social, and/or emotional development.
• The school counselor you are writing about must be a certified school counselor in Oregon.
• All essays must be submitted through the application form during our annual application window.

One winner will receive $3,000. Two runner-ups will each receive $1,000.

Congrats to our winners for the 2023-2024 school year!

• First Place: Taylor Gates
• Second Place: Shayna Giron
• Third Place: Kailee Macy
• Third Place: Kimara Jackson

Winners were notified on May 1, 2024.

Don Perkins Professional Grant

OSCA is pleased to provide a grant for school counselors. The goal of this grant is to support school counselors in developing programs and receive training in order to benefit students.

Congratulations to this year's winner - Maya Bourgeois from Meadow Park Middle School, Beaverton School District.

• NOW CLOSED. We will accept applications for the 2025 Don Perkins Grant from October 25, 2024 to December 15, 2024. The application window is now closed. We are currently reviewing applications.
• You may request up to $500.
• OSCA members employed as school counselors are eligible.
• We will announce the 2024-2025 winner by February 2025.
• Recipients must spend grant funds by the end of the following school year. The exact date is provided each year. For 2024-2025, recipients must spend grant funds by June 1, 2025. Dates for 2025-2026 are to be determined.
• We honor one recipient each application cycle.

If selected to receive the Don Perkins Grant, we ask that you submit a program proposal for a break-out session at the OSCA Conference that follows receipt of a grant (i.e., if you receive a grant in April, you will propose a break-out session at next October's conference). Alternately, you can write a brief article for the OSCA newsletter describing what you did, how students benefited, and your recommendations to other school counselors, due before the OSCA Conference following receipt of grant.

Examples of programs and training OSCA has funded:

• Crisis Response training for counselors
• Library of resources for parents
• Love & Logic training for a counselor
• Peer Mediation Training of Trainers
• Incentives program to improve students’ academic success.

NOW CLOSED. We will accept applications for the 2025 Don Perkins Grant from October 25, 2024 to December 15, 2024. The application window is now closed. We are currently reviewing applications.