New Next Step Director

Date: November 4, 2009 | Print This Post | Email This Post | 470 views

Paula L. Howland, Next Step Director

By Tiffany Clanagan, RCHS Student Newsletter

September 2009

Paula Howland was born with her parents in Chicago. Her father was an air traffic controller and they moved around frequently due to his work. She attended kindergarten in Flint, Michigan, first grade in Chicago, second grade in Kansas City, Missouri and third grade in Falls Church, Virginia. Her parents stayed in Virginia until she graduated.

She described her family as a “wonderfully diverse group.”  She’s married with two kids and has daughter and a son. She has a sister, brother and five nieces and nephews. She says “About half of the group is composed of outspoken and energetic extroverts and half are quiet and thoughtful introverts.” Most of her family lives in the Washington suburbs, but three are in Florida.

Her outside interests are that she loves to read, both fiction and non-fiction. She is also an avid nature lover and gardener. Her husband travels a lot in his job, and she likes to be able to travel with him. They have had the chance to go to places like Mexico, Guatemala, and the Netherlands.

She has been in Rappahannock ever since she has owned a home in 2005, and permanently moved here in 2008. As a young person, she came out here with a friend who had relatives on the Red Oak. Her friend and she met in third grade. They used to go hiking and camping in the Shenandoah while they were in the Girl Scouts. Followed her friend and her husband here when they bought property and now they live across the road from each other.

What made her consider a small school like Rappahannock was when her past experience with larger school districts. The districts each cover about 200 schools with census of approximately 130,000 students in each district. She said “I think it’s wonderful to be able to work in a setting where you feel you can really get to know all the students, their families and the staff. She also said that she was really looking forward to her time here at RCHS.

She has had several careers list. After college she worked for the Labor Department and had a brief career as a preschool teacher. After graduate school she worked as a psychologist, and later as a clinic director, in a local community mental health center in Maryland. She worked in that setting for over 20 years. After that she worked 10 years in two large metropolitan school systems. She began as a school psychologist and later went on to be a program director and supervisor in special education. Once she moved to Rappahannock County she opened a part-time private practice in psychology in Little Washington, which supplements her job at Next Step.

Her educational background includes a bachelors’ degree in sociology from the College of William and Mary, a master’s degree in education (counseling) from Northern Illinois University and Ph.D. in counseling psychology from American University in Washington, D.C.

She said “The college application is only one of the roles of Next Step” when I asked her what were her Next Step goals other than helping kids go to college. She sees the goals of helping students to find their way after high school. That means looking at any and all possibilities: apprenticeships, technical schools, the military or work options, as well as four year and community college possibilities.

This was an interview I did on Paula L. Howland and was writing about her. Like where you spend your childhood, what’s  your family like, her outside interest, how long she has been in this country and what brought her here, what made her consider a small town like Rappahannock, what’s her background career, her educational background, and what is her Next Step goals other than helping kids go to college.