Candice Bogacz is the 2026 recipient of the Wisconsin School Counselor Association (WSCA) Lifetime Achievement Award.
“I was just blown away,” Bogacz said about when she received the call from WCSA letting her know that she was selected for the award. “It’s such an honor.”
Bogacz is the school counselor at Pulaski Community School District’s Glenbrook Elementary School. She has been in the position for almost 20 years.
Alisa Lewis nominated Bogacz for the award. Bogacz said that Lewis had interned with her at Glenbrook when Lewis was pursuing her master’s degree. She had no idea that Lewis had nominated her.
WSCA provides professional development opportunities and supports comprehensive school counseling programs. It also works to empower school counselors throughout the state. More than 50% of school counselors in the state belong to the association.
“I love the hugs and the laughter and the innocence of all of these children. They make me laugh every day,” said Bogacz, adding that it’s been lovely to be at Glenbrook.
There are currently 511 students at Glenbrook, and Bogacz touches all of their lives in some way.
“I meet with all students in their classrooms,” Bogacz said. “I touch every single student that I have in the building. For specific kids, a lot will refer themselves to meet with me separately, because they have things to talk about.”
Bogacz said the number of individual students she sees in a given day varies. She sees some weekly, some are seen every other week, some are seen monthly.
Bogacz works with teachers to schedule meetings with students so that they don’t interfere with classes. One week, she does classes in the classrooms, the next week she meets with individuals and groups.
Bogacz said that students love to have lunch groups with her.
“That’s a nice time for us to sit around a table and to share things, work together on problem-solving and strategies,” she said.
Bogacz teaches life-skills lessons starting with kindergartners up to the fifth grade. These in-classroom lessons also include how to have a positive mindset and how to overcome obstacles.
“We all have hard things,” she said, so she also teaches having perseverance and grit. “Children have so many worries these days.”
She helps the students learn coping strategies and how to handle worries or angry feelings.
“My favorite lessons are in the career unit that I teach,” Bogacz said. “The little jobs that the students come up with are so heart-warming. Some of them are real, like becoming a police officer or a doctor.”
Bogacz said that they often try to mirror what their parents do.
“I’ve also had ‘rainbow makers’ or ‘mermaid doctors’ listed as jobs,” she said. “I love that.”
Bogacz said that she often has some students in small groups, where they can work on specific skills. These come as referrals from teachers or parents.
“A lot of times, my little kids might say ‘Mrs. Bogacz, I need to work on making a friend’ or ‘I made a bad choice,’” she said. “We’ll work on those skills together, with a pre- and a post-assessment to show them what they’ve learned. I’ve always been a very solution-focused counselor and very child-centered. I like working with adults, too. A lot of parents do come in and meet with me, as well as teachers.”
The lifetime achievement award celebrates a school counselor with more than 15 years in the position and who shows consistent excellence in delivering comprehensive school counseling programs, nurturing generations of students and contributing meaningfully to their school and community as professional leaders. This award honors the sustained influence of a career defined by commitment, mentorship and service.
Bogacz personifies those qualities.
In Lewis’ nomination submission, she noted that Bogacz has an empathetic mindset and ensures that each student feels supported and appreciated in their daily lives.
Lewis had chosen an internship as one of the final steps in obtaining her master’s degree in counseling and was assigned to work with Bogacz.
“I love having (master’s degree) students come,” Bogacz said. “Someone did it for me, way back when, and that’s when you learn the most. I always love to offer that to students.”
She said that she has worked with 12 master’s degree students over her tenure.
Also in the nomination submission, Lewis highlighted a strategy known as Check-In/Check-Out. These are for the students who just need a cheerleader, according to Bogacz. They need someone to check in with them in the morning and at the end of the day to see how their day went. The students receive a sheet where they can score how they did that day. If there were rough spots during the day, Bogacz takes time to talk about what they could do the following day.
“I also do a Behavior Academy. I just finished one with a little girl who needed emotional regulation,” Bogacz said. “She needed some self-control skills. We met three times a week.”
Bogacz noted the importance of the successes where children can be reflective and learn from the lessons.
“I feel that I am molding and shaping good citizens, good human beings,” she said. “I’ve always been a very solution-focused counselor and very child-centered.”
One other Pulaski school counselor, Leah Grant, received an award from WSCA, the 2024 Changemaker award.
“I think we are the only two in the district to have received WCSA awards,” Bogacz said.
Bogacz earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and her master’s from UW-Platteville. She said that her first counseling position was at the Health and Counseling Services at Whitewater.
“I was really young and naïve,” she said. “But I really enjoyed it. So, I always knew this was a good fit for me.”
