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Danielle Knight is the new guidance counselor at Jennie Reid Elementary in La Porte.

Jennie Reid Elementary School counselor Danielle Knight has deep roots in La Porte ISD. This photo shows her as a third-grader at Lomax Elementary School in the 1993-94 school year. Her mother helped her bake this cake to take to her teacher, Stephanie Chamblee.

“I am a product of La Porte ISD,” says Danielle Knight, new counselor at Jennie Reid Elementary School. “I attended Lomax Elementary, Baker Junior High and Lomax Junior High before my family moved to Deer Park.”

Danielle Knight is entering her 15th year in education after beginning her career in 2008 as a special-education resource teacher in Pasadena ISD.

Danielle Knight says flexibility is key to being a school counselor. “We evolve as we need to in order to support the needs of others,” she says.

The Sandy Hook shootings were a motivating factor for Danielle Knight when she applied to graduate school to become a professional school counselor on Dec. 14, 2012 — the day of the tragedy.

“I had already thought about it; so I decided, ‘I am going to take this as a sign,’” said Knight, who is starting this school year as the new counselor at Jennie Reid Elementary School in La Porte ISD. “I thought maybe I can be of service and get somebody help before they even think about doing the unimaginable. You never know, because kids are going to share with you (only) what they will, but I wanted to be trained and equipped in case I can help them somewhere along their journey.”

Knight is excited by a mix of emotions related to the past and the future as she returns to the district where she attended schools in grades 2-8.

“I am a product of La Porte ISD,” said Danielle Knight. “I attended Lomax Elementary, Baker Junior High and Lomax Junior High before my family moved to Deer Park.”

She is entering her 15th year in education after beginning her career in 2008 as a special-education resource teacher in Pasadena ISD’s alternative teacher certification program.

Her application to Lamar University to be a counselor in 2012 occurred after a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. The incident has been prominent in the news again this month after a jury awarded Sandy Hook parents $4.11 million in a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who had described the killings as a “hoax.”

Upon graduating in 2014 from Lamar with a master of education degree in school counseling, Knight began seven years as a counselor at Rick Schneider Middle School in Pasadena ISD.

“Different years brought different focuses,” she said, pointing to 2017 when Hurricane Harvey hit and 2020 when the pandemic began.

“A counselor wears many hats and is kind of a helper chameleon. We evolve as we need to in order to support the needs of others,” she said. “I am a very Type A personality. I plan for the plan for the plan, but no matter how beautiful the plan you make, my job has taught me flexibility. You see a need and fill it as best you can.”

Knight said her whole school family responded to the challenges that followed Hurricane Harvey.

“It was honestly one of my favorite years as a counselor thus far because I was just so proud to be part of such a caring school and district family.”

In a statement, the principal at Knight’s new school, Diane Weeden, said, “We are so excited to have Mrs. Knight as our new counselor at Jennie Reid. Our counselor is an integral part of our staff, assisting with social emotional learning and working closely with our families to make sure needs are met.”

Knight said her new co-workers “have a heart for kids.”

“This move was a difficult decision to make because I love my Pasadena ISD family, but I made the decision to work closer to my home (in Deer Park) for a better work/life balance,” she said.

Knight was president of the theater club when she graduated in 2003 from Deer Park High School, where she met and married a classmate, James Knight, who is now an electrician.

The couple’s children are Sophia, 3, and Austin, 10, who will attend fifth grade at Jennie Reid.

Outside of work, the counselor teaches and takes fitness classes at GitFit Bungee and Trampoline Fitness and Yellow Bird Fitness, both in La Porte.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net

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