Bryant School District counselors get regional awards

Kelli Dockery, counselor at Hurricane Creek Elementary School in Bryant, has been recognized by the Arkansas School Counselor Association as Southwest Region Elementary School Counselor of the Year. She has been at the school for eight years.
Kelli Dockery, counselor at Hurricane Creek Elementary School in Bryant, has been recognized by the Arkansas School Counselor Association as Southwest Region Elementary School Counselor of the Year. She has been at the school for eight years.

BRYANT — Two Bryant School District counselors recently received special recognition from the Arkansas School Counselor Association.

Kelly Dockery, counselor at Hurricane Elementary School, was named Southwest Region Elementary School Counselor of the Year, and Brenda Rodgers, counselor at Bryant High School, was named Southwest Region High School Counselor of the Year. The awards are given in recognition for supporting students’ career, personal/social and academic development.

Dockery and Rodgers are candidates for state honors, which will be announced during the Arkansas School Counselor Association and Arkansas Department of Education Summer Conference on July 9-11 in Hot Springs. There are six regions in the state.

“Kelli Dockery has a passion for young people that shows in everything she does,” said Karen Walters, superintendent of the Bryant School District. “She not only focuses on our students’ social-emotional needs, but also fosters community outreach to show them the importance of service to others. Kelli is a team player, and we are so proud she is a part of our Bryant staff.

“Brenda Rodgers is quite possibly the most selfless person ever,” Walters said. “She works tirelessly to put others, whether a student or a colleague, before herself. She strives to meet the needs of every student as if he or she is her very own child. Brenda has given her life in service to others; our students are fortunate to have her as their advocate.”

Dockery, 42, was born in Magnolia and graduated from Magnolia High School in 1994. She received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia in 2000 and a master’s degree in counseling from SAU in 2005.

Her first job was at Eastside Elementary School in

Magnolia, where she taught third grade for six years. From there, she moved to Stephens Elementary School, where she was a counselor for four years. Dockery moved to Saline County eight years ago to become a counselor at Hurricane Creek Elementary School.

“The person who inspired me to become a school counselor is Kerri Kitchens Ochs. She was my sponsor at Magnolia,” Dockery said.

“I believe that all children have a purpose in life, and it is one of our responsibilities, as school counselors, to help them find their passion and interests,” she said, explaining her approach or philosophy as a counselor. “I help students find their passions and help them to set behavioral, academic, social and career goals through individual guidance, small-group guidance and classroom guidance lessons.

“I am a strong supporter of student leadership. I sponsor our school’s flag leadership team, ambassadors and student council to help students learn characteristics of being a leader and serve as a model for Hurricane Creek Elementary. With the collaboration of our teachers, my principals, Tammie Reitenger and Tisha Long, parents and community leaders, we strive to help students learn necessary leadership skills to be successful and productive in the future.”

Dockery’s family includes her 18-year-old son, Malik Dockery of Benton; grandmother Catherine Johnson of Bryant; and mother, Gloria Johnson of Magnolia.

“I am really honored to be recognized as Elementary School Counselor of the Year,” she said.

The biggest challenge of this job is that is it different every day,” she said, smiling. “There is not a schedule. I just have to deal with whatever I am faced with that day.”

Rodgers, 64, was born in Little Rock. She is a 1972 graduate of McClellan High School and a 1976 graduate of Arkansas State University with a degree in special education.

Rodgers started her career in education at Greene County Tech in Paragould, where she taught special education.

When she was 41, she said felt the need “to grow myself” and went back to ASU to get a degree in counseling. She received a master’s degree in counseling from ASU in 1995.

“My first counseling job was in the Armorel School District [in Mississippi County],” she said, adding that she lived in Blytheville at the time. “I worked there for five years.”

She moved from Blytheville to Jonesboro, where she was a counselor at McArthur Junior High School.

“My husband was a banker and had the opportunity to move to Little Rock. I was beside myself, getting to come back to central Arkansas,” she said.

“We moved to Bryant in 2005. I was a counselor at Bryant Middle School first, then came to Bryant High School in 2014,” she said.

“I love where I am and have no plans to retire. I have been in education for 41 years,” Rodgers said.

“I love kids. There is no other way about it,” she said.

“My motto is: E+R=O,” Rodgers said. “E stands for environment; that’s the people in your environment. … You have no control over that. R stands for reaction; that’s how you react to your environment. … You have total control over that. This leads to O, or outcome. Your reaction leads to the outcome. You have no control in life, but you can control your actions.

“Addressing the social-emotional needs of our students is the top priority of a counselor. We have to keep up with credits, grades and attendance, too.”

Rodgers said a mentor in her career as a school counselor is another school counselor, Glenda Robb of Paragould.

“She is the most caring individual I know,” Rodgers said. “She cared for and loved kids. She is a good Christian person. I always wanted to be like her.”

Rodgers and her husband, Kenny, who died in 2016, have four children — Ryan, 40, who lives in Jonesboro with his wife, Kristin, and their children, Hudson, 10, Hayes, 5, and Hatley, 3; Kristi, 39, who lives in Friendship; Zachary, 37, who lives in Cabot with his wife, Summer, and their children, Kayleigh, 4, and Allie, 2; and Daniel and his wife, Lindsey, who live in Benton with their 2-year-old son, Parker.

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