Meet Casey Genett, CLA ‘20. Casey graduated from Temple as a Spanish major, but the flexibility of her degree path allowed her to develop strong foundations in other passions, like nonprofit work, broadcasting and communications. Today, she finds herself pulling from each of these skill sets as a school counselor. Keep reading to hear about Casey’s Temple experience and her career journey thus far.

What led you to Spanish as your major at Temple?

It’s a whole thing. Before I ended up at Temple, I transferred a couple times. I started out at Philadelphia University (now Jefferson) studying international business, so foreign languages were already on my radar. Then I realized business wasn’t for me, and I transferred to a local satellite Penn State campus for education, with the idea that if I eventually came back to Philly, I’d have the background to jump into Spanish education.

Learning another language was important to me—there’s no downside to it. When I came to Temple, I was planning to stick with Spanish education and potentially go into ESL. When I made my initial decision not to go into education, I considered moving over to Klein for Media Studies and Production.

In the end, sticking with Spanish better fit my trajectory. It opened up elective space and gave me the flexibility to do other internships and explore both nonprofit work and multimedia communications. That flexibility is why I ended up and remained in the Spanish program. 

Did you ever have doubts about majoring in Spanish, given your other professional ambitions?

Sometimes, yes. But at the end of the day, learning a language was still important to me. There were so many things I could learn within the major that I might not have thought to focus on otherwise. I’m always open to learning anything, so getting that broader worldview was a huge plus. And even now, working with students, I’m using my Spanish degree quite often.

Even if I didn’t reach near-native fluency, it was important to me to just be able to communicate with somebody. There are so many Spanish-speaking families in the Scranton area, where I’m from, and being able to help someone navigate something in their own language is extremely valuable.

While you were here, you were involved with Temple Talk, a student-produced talk show on TUTV, and HootaThon, a student organization raising funds for the Child Life Department at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) through charity dance marathons—how did those experiences fit in?

With Temple Talk, I started with an on-air crafting segment in the first show of the seventh season, then moved behind the scenes doing things like set design, camera operation and technical direction. (You can watch Casey’s on-air segment here.) 

With HootaThon, I started as a general member when I first transferred to Temple in 2017, just to get my feet wet and see how fundraising and canning works. In my second year, I was a fundraising committee member, which brought on a much higher level of engagement that I really loved. In my senior year, I applied for the executive committee, and I ended up becoming the Director of Fundraising. We raised $111,164.03 that year.

How did internships help shape your path? 

In the summer of 2019, I had one with a local Make-A-Wish chapter in Scranton. It helped acclimate me to communications, see how outreach is a little bit different than working in media, and see how these things all worked together. Then, in the spring of 2020, I had an internship with Seacrest Studios at CHOP through their Child Life, Education and Creative Arts Therapy Department. 

I produced, directed and hosted programming for CHOP’s internal TV network, Galaxy 51, and engaged patients across the hospital. In March, the shutdown happened, and we did more administrative things, like create graphics and bumpers, and write scripts. I was doing Temple Talk at the same time, and I was learning a lot about broadcasting.

You graduated during the COVID shutdown. How did that impact your plans? 

I really enjoyed the work I was doing and the growth I was experiencing under mentors who were training me well. I hoped to pick up a post-grad internship at one of the local Philly stations or with a network in NYC—maybe something in journalism, maybe something in lifestyle programming. My goal was to build upon what I was learning to make myself more marketable.

Like many, the pandemic changed my direction. People who were in the field for a long time were struggling to find work, let alone someone who would need extensive training. 

An opportunity arose with a local elementary school holding a summer enrichment program. They were looking for a foreign language teacher—someone to help kids dip their toes into the basics. I obviously taught Spanish, but with the elective flexibility I had, I also took semesters of Italian and French, so I was also able to teach those at a child-friendly, introductory level.

What led you to school counseling? 

After that summer, I began substitute teaching. Working in different grade levels, I would notice a lot of behaviors and challenges that had carried over from the pandemic. I wanted to be in a role where I could make a change and address the struggles I was seeing with things like social skills, emotional regulation and screen time. I remember subbing for a sixth-grade class one day and thinking, “You know what? I’m going to sit here and apply to grad school right now.” 

You earned your Master’s in School Counseling from Marywood University. Did your CLA education prepare you for grad school? 

Oh, one hundred percent. I constantly referenced my experience at Temple while I was at Marywood. I think back to a poli-sci course I took—again, because of my elective flexibility—Local Government and Community Advocacy (POLS 2108). That class opened my eyes to a lot of the advocacy work that goes into school counseling and how school counselors can be better advocates. Temple prepared me with the skills and knowledge to engage with that. 

How did you get to your current position? 

First, there was an entire summer of job applications and interviews. Getting into a full-time public school position as a fresh grad is quite competitive, but thankfully, I had the qualifications with my graduate degree to do mental health counseling. I worked briefly as a CSBBH (community and school-based behavioral health) Mobile Therapist for Scranton Counseling Center until the opportunity for my current position became available. It was an eye-opening experience, and it helped shape my perspective on how to best help and advocate for at-need communities. 

Today, I’m working as a school counselor with my local intermediate unit as a long-term sub, providing school counseling services at a Catholic high school. My supervisor has been very supportive, letting me know about opportunities and trainings so I have a stronger background and jumping off point when I move to another school. 

What does the future hold? 

I’d be interested in being back in a bigger district and being able to connect with those students. In the Scranton School District, it was so diverse. You saw people from every walk of life, which was really cool for me. At some point, I’d love to incorporate my media training in some way, sharing my expertise as a school counselor with the world.

Any words for prospective CLA students?

I wish I’d come to Temple sooner. If I could go back and do anything differently, I would have come in my freshman year. A degree from Temple carries weight, and it was an honor and a privilege to be Temple Made.