Five Copperas Cove ISD Schools Earn Prestigious State Counseling Awards

For the second consecutive year, Copperas Cove ISD has added to its growing collection of state counseling honors. The Texas School Counselor Association awarded five CCISD campuses its prestigious CREST awards for their efforts during the 2024-25 school year, recognizing counseling programs that demonstrate measurable commitment to student success. The five recognized schools, House Creek Elementary, Martin Walker Elementary, Copperas Cove High School, Copperas Cove Jr. High, and S.C. Lee Jr. High, represent the breadth of the district, from elementary hallways to high school corridors.

CREST, which stands for Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas, evaluates programs across five categories: the introduction to the school and role of the professional school counselor, program implementation cycle, foundational components, four service delivery components, and program curriculum. The award was established in 2025 to recognize schools with outstanding counseling programs that go beyond reactive crisis support and instead build comprehensive, student-centered systems.

House Creek Elementary

House Creek Elementary has now earned the CREST award four times, making it one of the most decorated counseling programs in the district. The school's counseling philosophy, as captured by KDH News, reflects the kind of whole-child thinking that TSCA looks for in award recipients. "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain," the school's counselor told KDH News in a piece highlighting the program. That mindset shapes how counselors approach their daily work with students: "We open the door to exploration of skills and tools that students already have, but maybe don't know how to use. School counselors are not the answer; the students developing their skills are the answer, and we just get to help them achieve that." The counselor added that the goal is creating "a comfortable, collaborative, calm, inviting environment" where students can recognize and build on strengths they already possess, describing school counselors as "whole-child focused" professionals who work to "support and protect each individual."

Martin Walker Elementary

Martin Walker Elementary earned the CREST award for the third time this year, cementing its standing as a consistent benchmark for elementary-level counseling in Copperas Cove. Three recognitions across the life of a still-young award program signal that the campus has embedded counseling best practices into its institutional culture rather than treating program quality as a one-time achievement. The TSCA's criteria demand sustained attention to foundational components and program curriculum, areas where Martin Walker has demonstrated repeated strength.

Copperas Cove High School

Copperas Cove High School claimed its second CREST award this year, a milestone that reflects the maturation of a counseling operation serving one of the largest student populations in the district. The program is led by counseling coordinator Melissa Dewald alongside counselors BrendaLiz Gomez, Maria Velarde, Jessica Salazar, and Amy Trimm. That team-based structure speaks to the complexity of high school counseling, where students navigate college applications, career planning, credit requirements, and the emotional pressures of adolescence simultaneously. Earning the CREST designation a second time suggests the team has moved past simply establishing its program and is now refining and improving it year over year.

Copperas Cove Jr. High

Copperas Cove Jr. High also received the CREST award for the second time, guided by counselors Julie Armstrong and Yoshenobia Harris. The junior high years represent one of the most turbulent developmental windows a student experiences, a reality Harris describes with clarity. "It feels great to be recognized for what you love doing," Harris said. "It gives you that extra confidence to know that your school's program is doing wonderful things. I enjoy helping my students navigate the often-challenging transition from childhood to adolescence by offering a safe space to discuss concerns, develop coping mechanisms and make positive choices in their lives." That framing, a safe space built around practical coping skills, aligns closely with the service delivery components TSCA uses to evaluate award applicants, and it illustrates why the Jr. High's counseling team has now earned the recognition twice.

S.C. Lee Jr. High

S.C. Lee Jr. High rounds out the five honored campuses as a first-time CREST recipient, a significant milestone for its counseling program. Earning the award on the first attempt requires a counseling operation that already meets TSCA's standards across all five review categories, including the program implementation cycle and foundational components that more experienced applicants have had years to refine. The district's announcement, published March 13, 2026, specifically highlighted S.C. Lee's inclusion as the news peg: "A fifth campus has won a prestigious award for counseling work this year." That framing acknowledges the school's entry into an elite group while signaling that CCISD's counseling infrastructure has expanded beyond its most established campuses.

What the CREST award measures

The TSCA's review process examines five distinct areas of a school counseling program: how the campus introduces students and families to the counselor's role, the program's implementation cycle, its foundational components, the four service delivery components counselors use with students, and the program's curriculum. That breadth means a CREST award is not simply recognition of a single popular initiative or a well-liked staff member. It reflects a judgment that the entire counseling structure, from how the program is designed to how it is delivered and evaluated, meets a statewide standard for excellence.

For a district the size of CCISD, having five campuses clear that bar in a single school year is a notable institutional achievement. It points to a district-level commitment to counseling infrastructure that extends across grade levels and building cultures, from the youngest students at House Creek and Martin Walker to the older students navigating adolescence at both junior highs and the high school. The counselors holding the banner in the district's announcement photo represent programs that, collectively, are reaching students at every critical stage of their K-12 journey in Copperas Cove.