A trained counselor with fourteen years of experience, specifically twelve years spent in school settings, Becky Murray is passionate about working closely with children, and her colorful, bright office space reflects the vibrancy of the students that she welcomes in each day. Becky is in her second year working as Holy Child’s full-time school counselor, serving children across all three divisions. She expresses that she felt at home right away at Holy Child and continues to be excited about the impactful work that she is doing within our community.

In her role as a school counselor, Becky partners with students, parents, and faculty. She strives to serve as a non-judgmental resource, acting as a sounding board for parents and teachers and supporting our students. In her own words, “I will listen to the challenges that parents, teachers, and their students are facing, and then I make recommendations for strategies that will support them as they navigate these situations.” Working with students of all ages individually, these relationships can be long-term, focused on achieving specific goals, or short-term, where they address a specific problem or situation. In classroom or small-group settings, including Middle School Advisory groups, Becky supports students and faculty by facilitating conversations and teaching lessons about social-emotional topics that are developmentally relevant and meet the needs of our students. She plans intentional lessons and programs that occur throughout the year, yet can be responsive in addressing situations that happen in real time within a grade or division.

The Holy Child Goals are important to our community and they help influence many of our faculty and staff’s work. Becky expresses that her work feels most aligned with Goal 6: “Holy Child Schools promote the personal growth and development of all who participate in the life of the School.” In partnership with students, teachers, and parents, we strive to promote the idea of being the best version of ourselves, which is intertwined with lessons about personal growth and being kind to ourselves and others. The Middle School Advisory program is especially focused on Goal 6 and last year in Advisory, the students learned about their character strengths, how to identify character strengths in their peers, and how to utilize their strengths to be their best selves.

We have academically and socially intelligent students at Holy Child, and they know what acts of kindness look like and how to spot character strengths; however, it brings Becky the most joy to see them living what they’re saying, just as Cornelia Connelly urged us in her motto, “Actions, Not Words.”

Over the years Holy Child School at Rosemont has incorporated many initiatives towards personal growth and kindness. Becky states that she is excited about acts of kindness, and the idea of filling someone’s metaphorical bucket by being kind to them, is a simple concept with a widespread impact. We implemented the bucket-filling program in Lower School this fall, and strengths spotting has been a major area of focus for our Middle School students. While these are different programs, the message is the same: Being kind to others makes you feel good and when you are kind to yourself, you are kinder to others. She is excited that we are already seeing a positive shift occur because it will continue to have a greater impact as time goes on.