Champion for diversity at Lexington elementary school wins Massachusetts Counselor of the Year award – The Boston Globe

Henry Wan, a school counselor at Harrington Elementary School in Lexington, was named the Massachusetts School Counselor of the Year at a packed school gymnasium on Tuesday in front of more than 400 students, teachers, school administrators, and government officials.

The surprise ceremony, hosted by the school in partnership with the Massachusetts School Counselors Association, which has been presenting the award for over 40 years, caught Wan completely off guard.

Wan thought he was there to broadcast a video from his “We All Belong Project,” an initiative he started four years ago that creates monthly videos featuring students and their families talking about their cultural backgrounds and what makes them unique.

Instead, school principal Jackie Daley turned the tables on Wan and told him they were also gathered there to celebrate him, a counselor known in the community as a champion for diversity and inclusion.

“As a person of color, I felt overlooked before in life,” Wan, a Chinese-American who grew up in Quincy, told the Globe. His parents moved to Massachusetts from Hong Kong and the counselor moved to Lexington eight years ago to work at Harrington.

“That’s why I’m so passionate about coming here and telling the stories of students,” he said. “They really are beautiful people with amazing things to contribute, and I don’t want any of these kids to be overlooked.”

Wan was chosen by an eight-person committee from a pool of 20 applicants state-wide. By winning the award, Wan secured $5,000 from Wellpoint, a health benefits company based in Woburn that sponsored the event. Wan and school officials will later decide what to do with the funds — the award is for enhancing school programming, equipment, or supplies.

The award also guarantees Wan a spot in the 2027 national competition for school counselors run by the American School Counselor Association. Winners will be announced at a gala in Washington in November next year.

Wan was nominated for the award by Daley, who said the counselor is “always extending himself” far beyond his duties, serving as a foster family liaison for the school district, helping kids in the foster care system.

Apart from the monthly video series that Wan edits and directs with students and their parents, his “We All Belong Project” also promotes gatherings with students from different backgrounds once or twice a semester to foster friendships and connections. The meetings often feature high school student guest speakers with learning differences who can serve as role models for kids in the groups with ADHD, dyslexia, Down syndrome, or other learning challenges.

“During her elementary years, my daughter struggled with anxiety, regulating her emotions, and she had a hard time opening up to adults,” said Meg Tabela, a Harrington parent and former PTA president who provided a letter of support for Wan’s application.

“I was shocked when I heard her talking openly with Mr. Wan over Zoom during COVID homeschooling,” she added. “I knew at that very moment how special he was and that he had gained her trust, something few adults had ever done.”

For Bob Bardwell, executive director of the Massachusetts School Counselors Association, counselors need to be celebrated and elevated in school communities because they play such a critical role in a child’s ability to learn.

“Especially now when mental health is so critical, if a kid can’t regulate their feelings and they can’t attend to school, then their teacher could be the best teacher on the planet, but that student won’t be ready to learn or can’t learn without the help of a counselor,” Bardwell said.

Patrick Tutwiler, Massachusetts secretary of education, who attended the ceremony, agreed.

“We need to remember that school counselors have a background that is clinical in nature, so they can not only help students navigate the ins and outs of the school day, but can also be the first stop, the first responder, if you will, for students who are having a mental health challenge,” he said.

Mariana Simões can be reached at mariana.simoes@globe.com. Follow her on X @MariRebuaSimoes.