Indy Counselors
Our school counselors provide support to all students and help address their academic achievement, college and career readiness, and social and emotional development.
Indy School Counseling Mission:
Independence High School counselors, in collaboration with our families, staff, community, and other stakeholders, seek to empower and enable every student to focus on lifelong education that extends beyond the classroom, into the community and the world at large. Our goal, in addition to fostering relationships and advocacy for students, is to equip them with relevant skills needed to identify and achieve their individual goals.
Students are assigned School Counselors by last name:
| Kaylah Williams | 9th Graders A-Z |
| Kelsey Everett | Students with last names A-C |
| Marianne Dolan | Students with last names D-Hi |
| MaryBeth Clary | Students with last names Ho-Mi |
| Cassie Smith | Students with last names Mo-Sc |
| Caitland Sharp | Students with last names Se-Z |
Students should see the Indy Counseling Schoology group to request an appointment with their School Counselor.
Keep up to date with Independence School Counseling information in the School Counseling group (accessible through WCS email accounts only and has a wealth of documents, forms, links, general information, and updates), The Declaration, Skyward emails, and our twitter account (@wcsIHScounselor).
Social Worker
School Social Workers provide information for support services or agencies to help students deal with economic, emotional or physical challenges inside and outside the classroom. School social workers sometimes focus on needs assessments for specific groups of students with a great deal of challenges, such as those with disabilities/special needs and at-risk. Social Workers assist the schools when working with a child who has special needs to plan, connect with the family and to consult as needed. School Social Workers assist students and families in the district with:
Connections to outside agencies in the community that provide additional support beyond the schools (i.e. providing information for local child/adolescent psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists/counselors, support groups, food banks, mental health residential facilities) by communicating with parents, teachers and administrators which is essential in order to provide a full view of the issues facing an individual student, group or entire district.
Mental health needs (confirmation of diagnoses, support(s) needed at school, IEP/504 meetings, crisis plans/interventions)
Subsistence needs (i.e. food, housing, utility bills, clothing, shoes, school supplies)
Social Worker: Christy Akers and Alexis Krause
STARS Specialist
STARS Student Assistance Specialist is available as an additional social and emotional development support to students. STARS offers individual intervention, group intervention, as well as prevention and leadership activities. The STARS Student Assistance Specialist is available to help students with anything outside of academics, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, anger, bullying, self-esteem, body image issues, gender identity, family problems, peer relationships, etc. Students who participate in STARS receive support while at school, though the service does not take the place of therapeutic counseling out of the school for more intensive problems (trauma, severe anxiety/depression, etc.).
STARS Counselor: Dawn McGrath
STARS Therapist: Rahab Marshall