Sydney Viloria is the newest guidance counselor at Leominster High School. His first year was the 2022-2023 school year. He was previously a guidance counselor at East Boston High School.
Before he pursued counseling, Viloria was driving school buses in his 20’s with no clear idea of a career he would want. The kids who rode the bus would frequently talk to him about their problems, but it was not until they told him they thought he should be a guidance counselor that he considered his current career.
“That one conversation sparked my entire profession,” he said. From then on, he started research, he went to Northern Essex College as well as Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. He has now been a general educator since 2004, and a guidance counselor for 10 years.
When asked what it takes to be a guidance counselor, he said, “This is a caring profession; if the students don’t matter to you, you should not be in this profession. ” Mr. Viloria added “I’m here to work, so I have to leave my own personal feelings at ‘the door’ to be able to do my job the best I can,” then he added “There’s not enough hours in the day.”
Viloria said the biggest difference between schools is the demographics. “At East Boston about 80% of the students are Hispanic. I appreciate the diversity here, it represents the real world much better.”
He also compared the number of students he has. In East Boston he had about 250 students on his caseload, while here at Leominster he sees around 300.
When asked how he would rate his job on a scale from 1-10 on the basis of fun, he responded, “8/10”.
Viloria wakes up every morning and reports to work with a smile. He loves his job and doesn’t see himself doing anything else, anytime soon.
