Raylene is my counselor here at valley high and I absolutely love her! She is always willing to help, and wears a huge smile. She takes time to get to know the students she works with, and tries to find the schedule that works best for them. It's obvious she cares about each student as an individual, and she's always around to help.
Raylene is my counselor, i really enjoy having her as my counselor. She is a sweet and helpful lady!
I think that she's very helpful and understanding towards her students. She cares for them as a person and not just as a student.
she is very understanding in everyones position in life and tries to help our the best she can
She is a great person. Really likes to help others and very open minded. She deserves this reward more then anything.
During my time attending Valley High school, I've had the pleasure of having Raylene Glover as my counselor. Every time I come into her office, I instantly feel a shift in my attitude. Her positivity and compassion are absolutely contagious. Raylene has always been supportive and has given me a boost of confidence that I needed to succeed here. I am very pleased to see her nomination for Life Changer of the Year and believe that there is no one who deserves the award more than Raylene Glover. Congratulations!
Raylene is the only counselor that I have had that actually cares. She is helping me get on track to graduation, and that is all I've needed at my last schools is a counselor that actually wanted to help me, and not just helping me because they have to. An amazing person!
I have had the pleasure of working with Raylene for several years. It seems to simple to write kind words as to what she does here at Valley High School that makes her so amazing. To truly see and understand what she does is best seen first hand. She is kind, compassionate, and dedicated to our students and staff.
Her level of experience handling all kinds of unique problems that arise with our students exceeds expectations. She doesn't skip a beat when asked to help out with outside projects or an "immediate" student melt down. Raylene should be the "Poster Child" for this beautiful award.
I have worked with and known Raylene for many years. There are not words that can adequately express my feelings of admiration for her. She has been my loyal friend for many years. My heart fills with joy when I see her. Although our contact has lessened over the years when she left to fill her calling at Valley High School, our friendship remains strong. Our families have enjoyed many times together. she has even had a positive influence on my kids. Even today they still quote her. Raylene is an amazing person and has taught me great and marvelous things. Her family reflects her willingness to serve as she has taught them well. Her quick wit and smile have influenced many students, parents and colleagues over the years. She is more than deserving of this nomination. She truly is a gift to the human race.
Raylene has definitely been a huge impact on my life. She is very kind, has a huge heart, and supports her students with everything she’s got! She saw things in me that I couldn’t even see myself and believed in me even when I didn’t. In fact because of her belief in me, her teen mom program and daycare at Valley high, I was provided with the possibility of graduating high school instead of dropping out due to the many reasons that entails being a teen mom. I was given a second chance to move forward instead of ending up as just another statistic. Due to this, I now run a successful daycare business among other accomplishments which would have been a gargantuan struggle without the opportunity that Raylene provided for me. I still go back and visit Raylene, even 7 years after graduating. She is someone I will always hold dear to my heart along with the rest of the staff at Valley High school. I am gratified to know her.
Raylene Glover is such a delightful person and great to work with.
As my inspiring mentor for the last ten years, as well as today, she has proven to be an example of kindness and patience. Even after a twelve hour day she still has time for your issue with a smile. She encouraged me to go further and reach out to be a better person and teacher.
She meets with each student four times a year and even more times as needed.
Despite of long working days she always comes up with another idea to help our students better. Look at the picture below for our service learning project at the Boys and Girls Club in Murray. Bethany Wood, one of our service learning students, said,”This will forever be one of my favorite Valley memories.” Stevye Jackson, another student, wrote on FaceBook where I posted the pictures,”I’m so happy I could be part of this amazing experience! My last year at Valley is definitely the most memorable. Thank you for letting me be part of this! Having these pictures and being in them means the world to me! Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had.”
(Sorry, it will not let me add a picture here :)
Valley High School is an ever evolving Alternative At-Risk high school here in the state of Utah. One person who is a key factor to the school’s success is our lead guidance counselor Raylene Glover, who is a “Life Changer”. I have worked with Raylene for the past ten years as a teacher and social studies department chair. She has developed a dedicated and caring culture of respect, guidance, and success within our school toward all students, faculty and staff. Her hard work toward our school vision of providing educational learning plans and graduation success for all At-Risk students is seen through her dedication to all students no matter the circumstances of the students when they come to our school and begin to move forward in their learning endeavors.
Raylene expanded our teen-mother program into the teen-parent program which now also includes the young fathers. She has collaborated with our counseling team to develop a service-learning component into our student’s credit recovery program, which allows students the opportunity to be on the giving end for others. She also oversees and tracks student credits insuring they are on track for graduation, and working on credit-recovery, and planning their post high school goals. She has a strong capacity to identify individual learning styles and student needs and how to assign them to the teachers and courses where the students will find the greatest success.
Raylene’s dedication and going the extra mile is not only reserved for students. She is a life changer for the entire learning community within our school, our district and our state. Her professionalism, support, collaboration, and dedication spills over into every aspect of her life changing work.
I have had the good fortune of having my office right next to Raylene for the past few years….imagine, my own Bodhisattva next door! I am truly blessed on a daily basis to observe her kindness (which far exceeds Valley and its students, staff and family). True to her character, she is humble and will be totally embarrassed to receive any praise or recognition. However, in my 30 something years of working in the guidance field, I have never witnessed a person more motivated by great compassion and simple commitment to put others first. When she has a quiet (very rare) moment from dealing with the daily hustle and bustle of students, parents and babies in her office, I am delighted to hear her humming softly. I love when good things happen to good people, and this is one of those instances. Raylene is so deserving! The force is with her!
I am delighted to have opportunity to congratulate Raylene on her nomination for Life Changer of the Year. I have worked with Raylene for the past 23 years. In my opinion there is no one more deserving, hardworking, and professional than Raylene. Her time and talents always focuses around one objective. ‘What is best for our students?”
Anyone who has worked with Raylene knows she is a joy to work with and for me she has been a role model. Raylene makes a difference. Her hard work and dedication to help our students has been extraordinary with life changing results. I hope Raylene is selected for the Life Changer of the Year. I know of no one who is more deserving.
Raylene is an amazing person, not just an amazing counselor. Her students respect her and look to her for guidance; she , in return, respects them and helps guide them to success. Valley High School is Jordan School District's alternative high school, and as such, everything we do is geared toward, "What is best for our students?" Raylene is integral is the process of doing what is best for individual students. We are not a "one size fits all" school, and that requires a lot of compassion, understanding, and empathy. It can get very difficult creating schedules that take into account each student's specific needs. Raylene does it. We are blessed--and lucky--to have her at VHS.
I have worked with Raylene for 10 years. Her students have the highest respect for her. She is the voice of reason and frankness in their lives. She carefully and cleverly navigates her teen parents toward graduation. She gives them the tools they need for success beyond high school.
With much of her own time and money she has taught our students how to serve through her service learning activities. The students have come back from these activities especially the boys and girls club Christmas stockings with so many stories to share. Their faces beam with the happiness they were a part of.
She lifts all around her to be better people. She is always positive and fair to work with. She is a great listener and friend inside and outside of the school. She has come to my kids performances and helped them on their LDS missions.
When one of our teachers had leukemia and was sick and dieing with no family around, she brought him food, cleaned his home, and visited with him. This is who she is.
She is completely deserving of this award.
As a former student of Valley high and with Raylene having been my councillor, she definitely deserves it!!! She helped me so much as my school councillor and made me see what was truly important. <3 I hope she gets the reward
Professionalism linked with an intense desired to provide the guidance and love these alternative students so desperately need certainly qualifies Raylene for this prestigious award. I retired two years ago from Valley as assistant principal and working with Raylene was a pleasure and honor. I recall so very many meetings with her agonizing over an individual student who was struggling financially, had little or no support from his or her family and was on the verge of giving up school. She found the answer for so many of them with food donations, clothes and a warm caring offer of encouragement. In addition to her usual duties she spent hours with Valerie Brandt working on Service Learning which was most impressive especially when it was not even a required component of her job. She is so dedicated to her students that I am sure the number of graduates who she personally impacted and supported numbers in the thousands!
Having worked with Raylene in the past, I am thrilled to see her nominated for this award. I worked with Raylene when completing my counseling internship hours and also in a migrant summer school program. I found Raylene to be knowledgeable, kind, and compassionate when working with students and colleagues alike. She is certainly deserving of this nomination and award.
Congratulations, Raylene!
As the principal of Valley High School I can fervently attest that Raylene Glover is a Life Changer every day at our school. She first helps change the lives of all of the students she is counselor for with her kindness, caring and motherly advice. She helps steer students who are severely behind on graduation credits to a working plan for graduation. She is frank about the work that it will take but also cheers them on every step of the way. If I could bottle her essence of optimism, love and common sense I would sell it as a "Drop Out Prevention Magic Serum." All of that and a she has a wicked sense of humor too!
She is the perfect person to be the director of our teen parent program and has made numerous improvements to it over the years. All of those were made for the benefit of students and their babies. She can remember her students even from years past, also their kids names and tries to keep up on how they are progressing into adulthood. She handles so many tasks for this school that as she approaches retirement I am heartbroken. Some people truly are irreplaceable.
Her work in Service Learning changes the lives of any student who participates. I have seen students who have spent much of their lives on the receiving end of state assistance volunteer at the Food Bank with pride. I have witnessed one of our Hispanic students dressed in the Santa Clause suit speaking in Spanish to the children at the Boys and Girls club when the stockings full of goodies and necessities were handed out. Their surprise and happiness was evident but his joy at the experience is one I will never forget. I know he won't either, I could tell it was a life changing moment for him as well. Raylene puts in countless volunteer hours on this project each year and I am probably the only person who knows that she also pours in a substantial amount on her own money. If the fundraising is low for the projects she jokes she will have to look at the "Glover charity fund" to see if can fill the gap. This woman is selfless, genuine and always charitable and loving. I try each day to be more like the qualities she brings to her job daily. I have worked in education for 35 years, she is the most deserving person of this award I have ever worked with!
Life changer committee:
I also have had the pleasure of working with Raylene for the past twelve years, in the capacity as the counselor assistant for the last four years. Raylene always has a kind word for everyone around her. Her students leave her office feeling lifted up and ready to succeed in life as well as in school. I personally am lifted up each day that I get to work with her. Raylene has a way of making me feel very important even though I am a 17 hour assistant. Her humor a long with her professionalism is a breath of fresh air and helps with morale.
Thank you,
Kit Hansen
Valley High School
As the former principal of Valley High School, I can attest to the dedication and professionalism that Raylene Glover demonstrates every day in her role as school counselor. She was always strongly supportive of me as an administrator, not just by agreeing with me but by adding ideas, offering advice, being a voice of reason and constructively disagreeing with me when needed. I valued her insight and opinions and admired her energy and positive attitude. She is respected by her colleagues and appreciated by her students. When we initiated a service learning program at Valley, Raylene was critical to its organization and effectiveness. It was a good idea that she turned into a great experience for Valley students because of her hard work. She contributed significant time, talent and energy to make it a successful experience. Her goal was not only to help our students become better learners but also to become better people. She is highly deserving of recognition as Lifechanger of the Year.
I met Raylene when I was privileged to complete my counseling internship hours under her during the 2015-2016 school year. Though she has guided me and helped me professionally, her wisdom and service has deeply impacted my personal life. She is a friend to all and she lives with unconditional love. She is genuinely caring and giving and I have been VERY lucky to work with her for the past three years. There isn't a person more willing to sacrifice their time and energy to help someone out. If the life changer award is not specific to students (though she has had a huge impact on students!) Raylene has certainly changed my life for the better.
I have found Raylene to always be personable and treat everyone with courtesy and respect. She has consistently demonstrated empathy, work ethic, reliability, and intuitiveness. She is relentless in working hours and hours and fulfills all of her responsibilities with fidelity and exactness. Raylene sets high standards for herself and her students. She helps them reach those standards by empowering them with a sense of confidence. It is evident that she wants all of her students to be the very best they can be. Raylene has a sense of fairness and the ability to make wise judgments using the facts of a given situation. She remains in control in all types of demanding situations. I enjoy working with Raylene and trust her judgment.
I am a voice from you past. I taught two of your boys and you substituted for me when I had a baby. I new you were destined for great things because you are a great person. Congratulations for a well deserved honor.
Raylene is a treasure with unlimited enthusiasm, dedication and purpose. She is always ready to greet all that visit with her and she does it with a welcoming smile. I know the students regard her as a champion that can be relied on as well as her availability and experience needed to support them.
I have know Raylene since coming to work for Valley High School and she is so amazing. She always has a smile on her face and love in her heart. She works very hard being not only a counselor but mentor to the young mothers and fathers at Valley. I am so proud of her.
I couldn't agree more that Raylene is deserving of this recognition. I know the work that she has does has changed the lives of countless students because I have personally worked with some of her students in my position in the district and I have seen her positive effect on them. She goes above and beyond to advocate for them and truly cares about their well-being and finding opportunities that will allow them to realize success and achieve their potential.
Raylene is also one of the most kind and thoughtful individuals that I have worked with in my career. Here record of service to others is well know among her colleagues. She puts others before herself and always strives to lift others up. In addition to her service efforts it is the random kind notes and sincere expressions of thoughtfulness and gratitude that come to mind when I think of Raylene. Even if she can't change your life, she makes every effort to at least change your day with kind words.
Thank you Raylene!