The staff and student body of Pomona High School have always known their's is not the typical high school, and Pomona's newest counselor, Pam Stinson, agrees "Pomona feels as if it's the right place for me!"

It was only eight years ago that Stinson started her career helping Colorado's youth. In 1992, Stinson was an English teacher at Wheat Ridge High School. Unexpectedly, she was offered a counseling position. That opportunity was "a stroke of luck," Stinson exclaimed. With" little hesitation," she said she took the position.

When asked to compare her job as an English teacher to her job as a counselor Stinson replied, "It was insane, I loved it!"

However, Stinson's counseling life goes way beyond the walls of Pomona High School. She is President of the Colorado School Counselor Association. In short Stinson is a lobbyist; she plays an important role affecting how the state legislature determines to use Federal dollars in Colorado's public school system.

Although Stinson has no children of her own, she said she really enjoys spending time with her best friend's four kids. According to Stinson, she has a strong connection with those four kids due at least in part to the fact that she helped deliver all four of them. Well, almost all four of them; the last one only made it to the emergency doors, and he was born in the car. Stinson claims the baby beat her to it.

In addition to nurturing friendships, Stinson also enjoys sailing in her free time. In fact, the Caribbean ha proven to be one of her favorite vacation spots. Stinson said she is planning her next trip to Desolation Sound, a hot sailing spot in the Pacific Northwest.

Stinson also finds herself spending quality time with her 19-month-old Alaskan Malamute, Chinook. At such a young age, Chinook already has cataracts in his eyes. This means by the time that he is full grown he'll probably be blind. Because of this problem, Stinson said she is training Chinook to respond to non-visual training commands.