The Superior Express -

Traveling from Beloit every school day, Shyanne Kastrup is the new 6 through 12 counselor and National Honor Society sponsor at Rock Hills. She grew up in Beloit, only moving away when she attended Washburn University. While in college, Kastrup thought Wichita was where she wanted to be, but her husband, who she met in high school, was tied to Beloit. "He wanted to do the small town cop thing," Kastrup said. She ended up falling back in love with the small community. "You just can't get those things in Wichita," she said. Kastrup really likes the small, tight-knit community.

In her free time, Kastrup enjoys being at the lake and fishing. Currently her husband is trying to get her to golf, but she prefers watching.

This is Kastrup''s first year of counseling. Before this, she worked as a youth case manager at Pawnee Mental Health in Beloit. This year, Kastrup is looking forward to figuring out how Mankato works, meeting everybody and learning how she can change things to make them better. "I'm looking forward to digging into what I'm supposed to be doing and how everything works," Kastrup said.

Kastrup has many responsibilities at the school and is still learning what all they are. She is responsible for getting students ready for college by making sure they have access to all of the scholarships available, helping them figure out where they are going to go and what they plan on doing, and helping them apply for colleges. She also helps junior year students prepare to take the ACT test, helping some of the sophomores who want to go to ivy league schools take practice SAT tests. Having one-on-one meetings with students who are going through struggles is another thing Kastrup does.

Kastrup's degree is in social work. She originally started college to be a teacher, but during the observation phase of that course, Kastrup realized she didn't like being tied to just one thing in the classroom. This made her want to broaden what else she could do, so she chose social work because it and teaching are interconnected. "I really like helping people, helping them figure out their struggles in life and how they can get through it," Kastrup said.

She advises aspiring counselors to definitely have a mentor. "My mentors are a former counselor, Amandra McChesney, and the counselor at Beloit, Brennan Eilert," Kastrup said. Other advice she gives is to find someone who has been counseling a long time and make sure you have their number on speed dial because there are so many questions.

"I'm an open book," Kastrup said. "I am here for everything. If there's questions about things and I don't know the answer, I will find the answer. I just really want people to feel comfortable coming up and asking things and asking for help and figuring things out."