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Take Note campaign showcased at American School Counselors Association annual conference

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NCRA’s volunteers: Jennifer Late, Danielle Griffin, Pamela Griffin, Kimberly Portik, and Doreen Sutton

Several NCRA members and a court reporting student volunteered to provide realtime captioning demonstrations on laptops, tablets, and iPads at the American School Counselors Association conference. In addition, NCRA members answered questions about the demonstrations and the benefits of a career in court reporting and captioning at an information booth. NCRA was one of more than a dozen groups representing their respective professional and trade vocations that included opticians, accountants, pathologists, and concrete suppliers. More than 2,100 elementary, middle, and high school counseling professionals attended the conference.

Doreen Sutton, RPR, NCRA board member and a freelance reporter from Scottsdale, Ariz., addressed attendees about the lucrative opportunities and favorable job outlook the court reporting profession offers as a prospective career, as well as the educational requirements needed to enter it, during a three-hour session called Careers your students need to know about.

Doreen Sutton presents at ASCA
Doreen Sutton presents at ASCA

“Basically, the idea that stenography is an old profession is very true. It has very historical roots and dates back to shorthand writers with pen and paper,” Sutton told attendees. “But what we have now is a very viable, technology-driven career. It’s not dead. In fact, it’s growing.”

During her presentation, Sutton provided a look at some of the areas where work is available in the court reporting profession, as well as explained what stenography is and how it is taught. She also provided some insight into expected areas of growth in the coming years. In addition, Sutton encouraged attendees to strongly consider a court reporting career path for their students who are good with grammar, have high curiosity levels, and have an interest in lifelong learning. She also pointed out that on average, it only takes two years to complete court reporting school, that jobs are in highly professional settings and can offer flexible hours, and that the career is financially lucrative.

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Pamela Griffin explains court reporting to a school counselor in attendance

According to Sutton, NCRA volunteers fielded many questions about court reporting as a career, court reporting schools, career prospects, and more. She also demonstrated how a steno machine works. School counselors were pleasantly surprised by the technology-forward profession, the work flexibility that captioning, CART, and freelancing allows, and the potential for a strong salary, she noted.

In addition to Sutton, NCRA would also like to thank the following volunteers: Pamela Griffin, RPR, CRR, Phoenix, Ariz.; Kimberly Portik, RMR, CRR, CCP, CLVS, Phoenix, Ariz.; and court reporting student Danielle Griffin, currently attending the College of Court Reporting, an online program in Indiana.

Next year’s ASCA conference is from July 9-12, 2016, in New Orleans, La., and NCRA will be looking for local volunteers to staff the booth. Please contact membership@ncra.org if you are interested in volunteering.