New faculty continue to pop up around Camas High School. While learning who classmates are is hard enough, learning new faculty can prove to be more difficult. Especially those who students may not see on a daily basis such as school psychologist Myca Johnson.
Having previous experience in the school district three years ago, Johnson spent a year at Liberty Middle School before moving to the Seattle area, and working in the Lake Washington School district for two years as a school psychologist.
School psychologists typically work primarily with students in special education, and in the state of Washington, special education services are available to kids ages 3 all the way to 21.
Johnson had the dream of being a school counselor, but she discovered the demand for school counselors was low, so she began working in the Disability and Support Services department at the University of Idaho, receiving her Bachelor’s degree. She then attended Central Washington University where she received her Masters.
Coming back here from Seattle, Johnson feels that “this actually seems much more laid back and authentic than the east side of Seattle.” While growing up in a small town on the east side of the state, the move to Camas was an easy fit. With 28,000 students in the Lake Washington School district, she feels more comfortable with the one high school there is.
Always wanting to help people, and having a mother as a teacher, she decided that working in schools would be better.
Johnson grew up in Yakima, Washington, and went to a tiny school of only around 800 students. Everybody knowing everybody, much smaller building, “it was much easier to navigate the setting.” With lack of resources in clubs and AP classes, Johnson did everything she could to steer herself on the path to success, taking the two AP classes that were available and being a part of ASB.
Remembering her high school days, she told of her favorite memories. “I was on ASB and planned all of Homecoming one year and it went really well… I don’t know I was Valedictorian so that was probably my most exciting accomplishment.”
Johnson’s goal is to stay a psychologist for the foreseeable future in Camas and continue helping whoever walks through her door.
