BillingsGazette.com :: School counselor to spread message of hope

Link: BillingsGazette.com :: School counselor to spread message of hope.

Getting students to consider higher education is not easy in Pryor, where many children live with far greater concerns. They struggle with poverty, geographic isolation, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence and sometimes neglect. They're often the children of parents who never attended college, and higher education can seem further out of reach than the moon. Ginger Old Crane, a guidance counselor at Pryor Elementary and Plenty Coups High School, knows well the challenges her students face. Her Crow mother was born in Pryor, but Old Crane was raised by her father in Billings, moving in and out of foster homes throughout her childhood. She could easily have become discouraged if her principal and a teacher at Orchard Elementary School hadn't opened her eyes to her future.