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Minor receives statewide award

By Lynn Hotaling
Veteran educator Mary Jane Dillard, reading with Fairview students

Fairview's Linda Minor is the North Carolina Elementary School Counselor of the Year. She received her award Nov. 9 in Greensboro.

Jackson County Schools' first guidance counselor is now the state's top elementary counselor. Linda Minor, who began her career with the local school system in 1974, has been named the North Carolina Elementary School Counselor of the Year. She received the award Nov. 9 in Greensboro.

Minor, who was nominated for the honor by Fairview Principal Sue Nations, has been at the K-8 school since 1991.

"Linda is very deserving," Nations said Monday. "She is very kind to the children and very compassionate to our faculty and staff. She is our strength -our Rock of Gibraltar." During her acceptance speech, titled "I Believe Counselors Are Called to be Servants," Minor said the role of a counselor should be "a listening ear for the weary" and "an encouraging voice for the weak."

Once nominated for the statewide honor, Minor submitted information about programs she has been instrumental in during the past five years. Among those are Big Brothers/Big Sisters, New Century Scholars, Good Manners Club, Conflict Resolution, Peacemakers and the Grief Response Team. She has also helped develop the school's character education curriculum, and leads discussion groups on personal safety that address issues such as abuse and neglect.

Minor attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She earned her master's in counseling at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and added mentorship and supervision certifications from Western Carolina University.

In the early days of her Jackson County career, Minor traveled to five of of the school system's then seven schools as elementary counselor. At each school she designed classroom guidance programs that met the individual needs of that school and of each classroom teacher, Nations said.

Minor coordinated the county's substance abuse program and served as counselor coordinator during 1983-84. Minor has been a high school counselor as well and spent a number of years coordinating countywide programs.

"Linda Minor has served our students, families and community in a variety of creative and innovative ways for 26 years," Nations said. "Being the first elementary school counselor hired in Jackson County, she 'paved the way' and 'set the pace' for those who followed."

As North Carolina's elementary guidance counselor of the year, Minor now moves into competition for a national title.

Back to Archive: 11/23/00.