These students only have a few months left before finishing high school. Some will go to college, professional or trade school, or even work in the family business when they are done. That’s where guidance counselors come in. Lari Scarborough is the lead counselor at Madison County High School. Scarborough is in charge of seniors and prepares them for post-graduate life. She focuses on a few specific problems that a number of students face

Counselors like Scarborough help students so that when they finally exit these doors and step out into the real world, they don’t always have to follow the textbook plan of going to college.

She says seniors must follow in the same tradition as their predecessors. MCHS reported record highs in its 2014 graduation rate and Georgia High School Writing Test performance.

Scarborough says some popular college choices include Athens Tech, The University of North Georgia, and U-G-A among others. Caterpillar, Kubota, and Toyota are popular companies that students can work at right after high school.

Scarborough knows not everything is rosy. She lists some of the issues students have faced.

“Losing parents, losing siblings… those things are always difficult,” she says.

Scarborough has been changing lives for twelve years at MCHS. She just wants to leave her students with something positive. She says it starts with one important piece of paper, the diploma. Scarborough hopes that students don’t leave high school without it.