Mrs. Stephanie Hodgeman is a very busy woman. Her office is filled with piles of folders, cards for Interact’s pen pals, pictures of sailboats hanging near her desk, and many schedules and infographics conveying the hard work she puts into our community.
Mrs. Hodgeman is best known as one of the five school counselors at BFA, with a caseload of over 200 students. In addition to her counselor duties, she is involved with Interact, a school club that focuses on community service, the National Honor Society, and Northwest Career and Technical Centers’ career planning. Hodgeman made it clear that she prioritizes connecting our communities in St. Albans, and she believes it is important to hear from our students. “Students who are most engaged in school clubs tend to be the healthiest… (it is) important to build up kid participation in the community.”
Hodgeman has been working as a school counselor in the country for the past 26 years. She works hard to connect the school to other communities to provide students with new experiences. She believes the youth’s voice is important and stated, “(the) youth gives hope in a better future.”
With the workload that comes with Hodgemans’ leadership roles, she is not afraid to admit the help she receives. Along with school clubs and counseling, Hodgemen also runs food and coat drives, collecting over 1,000 coats in her last drive. Karyn Rocheleau from the Rotary, someone Hodgemen was quick to name, helps run the drives. She also humbly stated that the students at BFA do most of the actual work while she is the one who makes the connections.
Well before joining BFA, Hodgman was a student at MVU. She moved from San Diego and knows how it feels to be the new girl. She believes it is important to support transfer students by providing student-led tours.
During her time at MVU, Hodgemen was a part of both her school’s NHS and International club. She didn’t know what she wanted to do as a career yet, but after graduating, she decided she wanted to make the world a better place. She believed she could do this by studying law and getting an undergraduate degree in political science. Later, Hodgemen made a big step in her career by deciding to do an internship at a school for young students going through hardships. She compassionately said, “One person can change the trajectory of a person’s life forever.” After that internship, Hodgemen found her love for counseling. She earned her graduate degree in mental health counseling and later became a school counselor. Due to Hodgeman being undecided after high school, she is determined to make sure young people have enough opportunities to explore jobs.
In addition to Hodgeman’s career at BFA, an interesting detail about her that she relayed is that she is a sailboat captain. This little-known fact came with in-depth stories of how her son, Brook, and his struggles with epilepsy led her to become a captain, as it was one of the only places she didn’t have to worry about him getting hit by a car. As Hodgeman proudly showed off pictures of friends and family on the boats and shared unique experiences, such as sailing in the British Virgin Islands, she stated, “(You are) never too old to learn new things.” Now Hodgeman spends her summer managing a boat along with another familiar face at BFA, Mrs. Karen Yandow.
Hodgeman’s story is inspiring to the students she works with and our community. The challenges she faced, such as moving to a new state, struggling to find the right career, and her son’s epilepsy, were all seen in a positive light. Hodgeman has a grateful and optimistic attitude, evident in her hard work at BFA.
