校友职业日主题演讲:故事的守护者

从她自己的故事开始, 霍维 kicked off Foxcroft’s seventh annual 女校友 Career Day as the keynote speaker at Morning Meeting last Friday. A practicing Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC), she expressed the hope that “through my storytelling, not only will you gain some insight into my personal journey, but perhaps you may also see a little bit of yourself in me … in the basic humanness that we share.”

霍维 wove through the ups and downs of her journey starting with elementary school, “I was artistic. I drew pictures all the time which was considered nerdy,"通过她在威尼斯彩票游戏的生活, “I recall in my early years at Foxcroft really grappling with both the expectations that were set for me and the expectations I set for myself. 从我的4年开始到结束, 我真的是米开朗基罗把自己变成了石头,然后上大学, “我又开始与期望作斗争了. And throughout all of this, I began navigating the reality of my sexuality. This was, of all the stages of my life, what I refer to as the toughest.” Her desire to create art also dried up during that time.

在她大学四年级的时候, 霍维 “finally found a major that felt right for me and it forced me back into artmaking.” After graduating with a degree in mass communications, she eventually moved to the Denver area where she “found some very entry-level editing jobs at the Food Network and 首页 and Garden Television” and also started coaching lacrosse. 当电视工作开始变得平淡无奇时, 一位教练同事提到了教师培训, “所以我离开了演艺圈，转向了教育领域.” 

在获得教学执照后, 霍维 ultimately found herself in a large public school working with first- through third-grade students. 不久之后, she learned about a program at Naropa University that offered a master's degree in clinical counseling with an option for an art therapy emphasis. 我开始如饥似渴地阅读有关艺术治疗的书籍. I got incredibly curious about the benefits of art and how it can be useful for expression and coping. I was fascinated by what materials were helpful for certain things and how they impacted emotional regulation. In the classroom with my students, I began instituting 15-minute drawing check-ins each morning. They would draw and then have an opportunity to share with me how they were arriving at school that day. I was amazed at the material that emerged from my students' images. What appeared to be just simple drawings elicited so much emotional material.”

She was hooked and decided to pursue a degree in counseling and art therapy. 在那段时间里, 霍维的股票, “My artmaking was beginning to flourish and coincidentally my comfort in sharing my identity and even being more forthright about myself universally became more and more accessible.” 

自从转行做心理咨询, she has worked with local school district crisis intervention and counseling, 住院治疗的儿童, 积极安宁疗护的病人, 低收入住房参与者, 还有有发育障碍的人. 霍维, 她的妻子, 两个孩子住在博尔德, where she currently works at Naropa as a 访问ing Instructor, 查看私人客户, and supervises young therapists looking to get their licenses. 

“In times such as these where distance has been required and isolation has been universal,她想道。, “I have found that there is solace in recognizing that we are not alone. I hope that in some way you were able to connect to my story, even in the smallest way.”

在关闭, 霍维给出了这样的建议和鼓励, “在压力大的时候, it's easy to find a person to pick on or something or someone to blame. See if there's space in you to find expression in other ways. Sometimes it will take being seen by another human, 有时需要与专业人士合作, or singing Billy Eilish’s 'Bad Guy' or Lizzo’s 'Good as Hell.' Scribble, make a mess with paints, dance, hug, cry, laugh. 你的旅程是有价值的——它的所有部分. The sculpture that emerges from your excavating will be beautiful in its own right."

霍维的演讲开启了一个充满 stimulating breakout sessions conducted by ten alumnae who graciously gave their time to share stories about their professional paths with students. 代表1987年至2012年的班级, these women hail from a variety of fields and included a pediatrician, 环境规划, 会计及财务顾问, 马教练, 室内设计师/建筑师, 投资服务顾问, 生活教练, 视觉艺术家, 杂志主编, 也是专业学习主管. 
 
Students each attended two sessions and learned a lot about the numerous possibilities for life after Foxcroft. Many thanks to these remarkable women and to the Office of Institutional Advancement, especially Associate Director of 女校友 Engagement Lindsey Stokes, 用于组织活动.