After being in the classroom for upwards of 20 years, Christine Custred was ready for a change. Custred taught AP (Advanced Placement) US History and AP World History previously but has now joined Edmond Memorial High School’s team of counselors.

“I didn’t want big class sizes this year after Covid. Having 10-15 kids in class [last year] created more 1 on 1 relationships. Counseling was a way to achieve more of that,” Custred said.

Though Custred loves her new position thus far, she will miss many things about teaching, mostly the relationships with her kids.

“I will still make it a goal to have that kind of relationship with my students, but it won’t be as easy. That daily contact is fun and engaging, especially with AP. There’s nothing like [teaching AP] because everyone is working towards a goal.” Custred said.

Something Custred accounts as being different from teaching is the new demographic of students she has to work with. Many of them need help staying focused on graduating.

“Helping them can be just as fulfilling and those kids are just as important,” Custred said.

While she might miss some things about teaching, she still has a lot of things to look forward to with her new position. Along with learning from the women she’s working with, Custred is ready to help her students.

“I’m excited to help kids work through a myriad of different problems that came to a head last year [because of Covid],” Custred said. “Virtual Edmond was hard on a lot of kids.”

Joining the counseling team, she entered a world inhabited by intelligent and experienced women. Custred said that it has been the most fun learning from them.

“A lot of my work thus far has been getting to work with [the other counselors]. They have been incredibly generous and incredibly understanding,” Custred said.

The school hopes Custred enjoys her new position as a counselor and enjoys important relationships with her students.

Contact Olivia Lane at [email protected]