Maryville College’s Emily Fain-Lynch ’16 recognized as Tennessee School Counselor of the Year for 2022-23
Feb. 24, 2023
Maryville College alumna Emily Fain-Lynch ’16 has been recognized as the Tennessee School Counselor of the Year for the 2022-23 academic year by the Tennessee School Counselor Association (TSCA).
After completing her degree in Psychology-Counseling at Maryville College, Fain-Lynch received her master’s in counseling from Johnson University. She credits her senior-year internship at Colter Grove Elementary as solidifying her path forward.
“Not a lot of undergrad students get to experience the counseling environment so hands-on, especially not outside a clinical focus,” said Fain-Lynch.
TSCA recognizes one school counselor for outstanding service to their student population and commitment to advancing the organization’s goals to “maximize the academic performance, career planning, and personal/social growth of every student,” according to their website.
Fain-Lynch was presented with the award by the American School Counselors Association (ASCA). She currently works as the elementary school counselor for Green Magnet Academy in Knoxville where her duties include individual, group, and teacher-student counseling. She also teaches bi-weekly and co-teaches a program called Camp Engineering Feelings with the school’s engineering design lab instructor, Danielle Adams.
“Each class comes through for one day, twice a year,” Fain-Lynch explained. “Instead of their usual reading, math, science and social studies, we work on social skills. For example, this past month was a lab on the neuroscience behind overstimulation. We looked at how the brain gets overloaded and developed calming strategies and fidget toys to counteract it.”
In addition to class programs, Camp Engineering Feelings also holds specialty and school-wide programs. Every October is Red Ribbon Week, dedicated to drug abuse prevention; Community Cares Day is held early in the year and focuses on caring for people and places.
Arguably her most impressive and impactful project to date, however, has been the collaborative See Something; Say Something.
After gun violence incidents at another Knoxville area school, Fain-Lynch started brainstorming ways to expand out the work they were doing in Camp Engineering Feelings.
“At first, it was just us at Green Magnet and four other elementary school counselors in Knox County,” said Fain-Lynch. “Now it’s a requirement for all elementary schools in the county, although they’ve got some leeway with implementation.”
Every month, each elementary school addresses the same preventative topics such as weapons safety or consent and bodily autonomy. The aim is to introduce difficult topics early, and ensure students know where and how to find help if they encounter problems, she said.
“We want our students to be proactive, not just reactive, and to feel empowered to solve problems early,” Fain-Lynch said. “It works, too; a group of students walking home one day came back while I was on bus duty. They’d found a kitchen knife out on the way home. They didn’t ignore it, and because of that, we were able to get it before someone got hurt.”