Congratulations, Kathleen on winning Trophy Central’s Random Acts of Trophy-ness “Show Us Your Sue” award for “Excellence in Helping High School Students Reach Their Highest Potential.”
Whoopi Goldberg and Kathleen Egan share three common bonds:
- Both are experienced, kick-ass high school guidance counselors.
- Both have won trophies for stellar performance in their careers.
- Both owe some of their success to the popular ABC sitcom The Middle.
Think we’re making this up? We’re not! Just let us explain:
Real-Life and Fictional Guidance Counselor Heroes
Kathleen, the star of this post, is a “warm-hearted, caring” guidance counselor at Grafton High School in Grafton, MA who has “attended numerous weddings of her former students because they have stayed so close to her after graduating high school,” says Jill Cofsky, first grade teacher, voice actor and longtime friend of Kathy.
Photo courtesy of ABC’s “The Middle”
Whoopi played a lonely high school guidance counselor in Orson, IN on The Middle, whose office never admitted a student except when someone was ordered to seek counseling. She was so thrilled when Sue Heck sought her out to rectify a grave injustice – neither she nor the wrestling cheerleading squad she founded, The Wrestlerettes, has been included in the school yearbook — that she made it a full-time job to help Sue “take control of her tomorrows.” This included changing Sue’s name to Suki (which made classmates think Sue was a foreign exchange student or a contagious disease) and demanding that Sue’s photo appear in the yearbook – and it ended up on the In Memoriam page.
Random and Traditional Trophies
Sue Heck is perhaps the unluckiest – and most blindly optimistic – character on The Middle. No matter what obstacles Sue faces — and in the show’s six-year-run, she’s experienced every gawky adolescent’s worst fears – she refuses to give up.
And that’s why winners of Trophy Central’s Random Acts of Trophy-ness campaign, which honors quiet heroes, are recognized with what we call the “Show Us Your Sue” award. It’s designed to give recognition and shine a spotlight on people whose inspirational deeds and spirits are not awarded Oscars or MVP awards.
Without minimizing the importance of Whoopi’s Academy Award (which she won for her portrayal of Oda Mae Brown in the 1990 movie Ghost), we are excited beyond measure to make Kathleen our newest recipient of Trophy Central’s “Show Us Your Sue” award.
Because we know that the role of guidance counselor can be a thankless job – administering aptitude tests and issuing disciplinary warnings in overwhelming numbers. So any high school guidance counselor who earns the title “friend” from her students must deserve all accolades bestowed upon her.
Former Show Us Your Sue Winner Says it Best
Based on the unoriginal theory that “it takes one to know one,” we ask former Random Acts of Trophy-ness winners to nominate new winners of the award.
Jill Cofsky, who won Trophy Central’s Random Acts of Trophy-ness “Show Us Your Sue” award for Excellence in Teaching and Inspiring Students, wrote such a beautifully expressed endorsement of Kathleen that we are letting her words speak for us:
“OH MY GOODNESS!! I’m so so happy that you would like to make Kathy your next trophy winner!! She is so deserving of it. Kathy is such a warm-hearted, caring person!
“She is always smiling and making the best of every situation! She loves her family, her friends and her students!…She assists her students with social and emotional support as well as academic encouragement and helps them to prepare for their lives beyond high school.
“She takes care in writing thoughtful college recommendations and becomes much more than a counselor to many. Kathy has even attended numerous weddings of her former students becaue they have stayed so close with her years after graduating high school!
“One afternoon when I was at a Varsity softball game watching my own daughter play (against Kathy’s school’s team) I mentioned her name to a group of parents I was sitting next to, since I knew she worked there.
“These parents gasped and immediately said things like, “You know Mrs. Egan?!? We absolutely LOVE her!! She is the BEST!! She has been a blessing to my daughter! She’s not only her guidance counselor, she’s her friend! She goes well above and beyond her job description!”
“Of course I told them that I KNEW how awesome Mrs. Egan was because we’ve been friends since elementary school !! Kathy is truly one of the very kindest, most caring people I know and I’m so thrilled that she will be recognized with a Show Us Your Sue Award!!!
“Being a school counselor is a demanding job. Kathy also helps teens transition from secondary school into collegiate life or the workforce. She always inspires the students she works with to challenge themselves and be the best they can be while in high school…and beyond graduation. Kathy finds it extremely rewarding when she sees her students maturing into successful, confident young adults.”
Resolve to Name New Random Acts of Trophy-ness Recipients
At Trophy Central, it’s our job to deliver trophies to student athletes, musicians, actors and academics as well as to outstanding employees and sportspersons. But our true passion is to deliver smiles, and it gives us special joy to give them to unsung heroes and underdogs.
So please make US smile in 2016 by nominating YOUR favorite Show Us Your Sue candidates in the space below. Or nominate the person in YOUR life who embodies the Sue Heck spirit, using the hashtag #ShowUsYourSue on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus. Be sure to tell us why the person you are nominating deserves to win a trophy.
