By Sarah Neil
Correspondent
Sometimes, all it takes is a simple question to completely change the trajectory of someone’s life. In the case of Karissa Handler, a former public relations publicist and now award-winning school counselor, that simple question came from a 16-year-old mentee.
On her days off from her fast-paced PR job in New York City, Handler volunteered with the nonprofit mentorship program iMentor, working with students from low-income school districts in the city. One day, she was helping her mentee make goals for the future, when the mentee then turned the question back on her.
“When she put me on the spot, and said ‘What's your goal?’ I said, ‘I'm going to go back to school,’” said Handler.
Now, years later, Handler has been named the 2026 New Jersey State School Counselor of the Year by the New Jersey School Counselors Association. But counseling wasn’t always the plan.
Handler graduated from the College in 2011 with a degree in journalism and professional writing. She had always loved writing and telling stories, and dreamt of one day becoming a magazine writer. Counseling, however, had always been in the back of her mind.
After graduation, she moved to NYC to work in public relations. She enjoyed it, but eventually realized that her true calling was in school counseling.
So, she started taking classes part-time at Montclair State University, commuting back and forth between campus and her home in the Upper East Side.
“I survived on train rides and Poptarts and a lot of coffee,” she said.
After a few years, she got her Master’s in school counseling, all while juggling her job in the city and getting married. Soon after graduation, she left her job in PR and started doing in-home crisis intervention work for families.
“I learned a ton about parenting, communication and the difficulties that families are facing,” she said.
This work left her well-prepared for her next career step, where she took a temporary position filling in for a counselor at Columbia High School. From there, she was able to work towards a full-time job, and has been serving as a school counselor there ever since.
In 2025, she was named the Essex County School Counselor of the Year, and her achievements continued from there. When she learned that she was awarded New Jersey State School Counselor of the Year, she was amazed.
“To be able to get that recognition from people that I've never met in real life, never interacted with, never seen me in action per se, was a really special feeling,” she said.
The NJSCA selects a winner every year based on several criteria. According to the Association’s website, that includes “school counseling innovations, effective school counseling programs, leadership and advocacy skills and contributions to student advancement.”
Handler certainly met and surpassed the standards they were looking for, having started and worked on several programs at CHS, including an overhaul of the school’s college fair, a college tour field trip program for low-income students, which is funded through New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund, and a “Perseverance Breakfast” to recognize high school seniors who showed great amounts of strength and resilience.
She hopes that by being awarded this honor, it will allow her to do even more to support her students.
“I've been really inspired and really motivated to take things even further for my students… I can make an even bigger impact because I have a little bit more recognition,” she said.
Looking into the future, Handler hopes to mentor other counselors and is considering pursuing a doctorate in school counseling. By helping more counselors hone their skills, even more students would benefit.
As such, she encourages anyone with an interest in counseling to pursue it.
“It takes a special person to be a school counselor, but there are plenty of people that have that specialness,” she said, “If you have the passion for it, do it. The kids need us.”
