February’s School Psychologist of the month is Ari Hupp!
In your professional practice, what experiences did you find most rewarding or interesting?
The most rewarding experiences for me have to do with helping families and teams see students more fully and more compassionately. I also find our role to be intellectually stimulating—there are many things I find interesting and I love that there is so much to learn.

What educational levels (pre-k, elementary, secondary) are your preference to work in and why?
I really enjoy working with elementary students. I really value play in life, at all developmental stages, so I connect with kiddos around joy and play easily. I also love working with adolescents who are working to discover themselves and learning to advocate for themselves. It’s such an important stage of life and I always feel honored and privileged to be ‘let in’ and given the opportunity to support them in actualizing their goals.

What is your favorite part of being a school psychologist?
I’m really thankful that this profession allows me the ability to connect with others, to fight for people who have historically been, and currently are, disenfranchised, and to spend a good amount of time in study, reflection, and writing. It’s a balance that’s important for me as an introvert and I am grateful to be in a role where I’m able to find that balance.

What do you think is the most challenging part of working as a school psychologist?
Each student I meet deserves the best—they deserve someone to see them and to represent them as they are. It can be hard to balance that responsibility to the student as a person with the workload, deadlines, and reports. It often feels like there’s not enough time to give everything I want to give to the student.

What is your experience within an RTI/PBIS model, a tiered intervention model? Do you like this prevention model?
My role within MTSS systems has shifted as my placement has changed. I've been able to see a lot of districts' processes in my current position. I appreciate that MTSS (RTI/PBIS) keeps the focus on developing rigorous tier 1 curricula that meets the needs of all students. As all students' educational and social-emotional needs shift, it's so important that we are measuring, monitoring, and responding to their needs at the tier 1 level and providing evidence-based interventions at the tier 2 level.

How long have you worked as a school psychologist and what path brought you to this field?
I've been a school psychologist for 7 years. A 'perfect storm' of experiences brought me to school psychology. My undergrad internship was with a small arts organization who worked to connect local artists with public school teachers to integrate art lessons into the core curriculum. As I reflected on my own educational experiences as a selectively mute child, and the experiences of those in my family who experienced school failure and expulsion, I felt compelled to learn more about how emotions and learning interact. That ultimately led me to discover school psychology.

What are your long-term goals for your career as a school psychologist? Your dreams?
I hope to be an active agent in advocating for the rights of our students, especially those who are being targeted for systematic oppression. I find, in this time of great turmoil, that my dreams have taken an amorphous form--I am ready to adapt to what our students need from me. Regardless of what my role looks like, I am prepared to find ways to advocate for students, to listen, and to be a refuge for those in need.