As a counselor, junior varsity girls’ lacrosse assistant coach and former lacrosse player for Oregon University, Alexandra Breiner uses her time coaching athletes on the field to connect with them on a more personal level, outside of her office.
“A lot of times we sit here and it’s hard to have an adult understand you, so it’s cool to work with those students that I can really relate to,” Breiner said. “I’m very excited to coach students because I get to see them in another light. I can go watch them do what they love.”
According to Breiner, serving as both a counselor and an assistant coach has a lot of advantages in terms of getting to know her students in a more comfortable setting.
“We obviously love forming relationships with our students,” Breiner said. “So it’s cool to be almost like a mentor and a coach as well, and not have to talk about classes.”
Although Breiner misses her days of playing lacrosse, she shares that being a counselor is a lot like being on a team.
“There are seven other counselors that you have to work day by day with, and we all mesh together in certain ways,” Breiner said. “We all bring certain things to the team, so I miss that in the athletic aspect but I do get that by working in a school.”