DANVILLE — A student who needs a snack, a quiet place to regroup or help planning a career after graduation can find all three in one place at Danville High School.
The district’s Future Pathways Office brings mental health resources and career guidance together in one space designed to help students succeed both inside and outside the classroom.
The initiative reflects a broader shift in how Danville approaches student support. Superintendent Jason Snively said the district views academic performance, mental health and career preparation as interconnected parts of a student’s success.
“We consider our counselors to be student success coordinators,” Snively said. “All of those things — whether it’s mental health support, stress relief, career or college guidance — determine and support student success.”
The resource lounge is for students in grades 7-12 and provides an area for individual meetings as well as access to essential supplies.
Student Success Advisor Dorothy Yoder and Knox County Educational Service Center’s Career Navigator Sean McCutcheon work together to best serve student needs.
Meeting students where they are
When Yoder joined Danville during the 2025-26 school year, her office housed nearly everything students needed in one small space.
Donated food such as snacks and canned goods, clothing, hygiene products and other resources crowded the space. That changed when the district offered her several vacant rooms.
Yoder created dedicated spaces for a food pantry, clothing closet, hygiene station and college information corner.
Students do not have to explain their circumstances to access many of these resources. Yoder said this encourages independence while reducing the discomfort some students might feel when asking for assistance.
“That’s our effort to continue encouraging and growing resilience, self-regulation and independence,” Yoder said.
The Knox County Foundation helped make the renovation possible through a small grant Yoder received in May.
She began purchasing supplies and furniture in July. Her goal was to complete most of the renovations before the district’s Aug. 13 open house.
Yoder and McCutcheon also have dedicated office spaces to discuss mental health and career opportunities, respectively.
McCutcheon works in Danville and three other county districts: East Knox, Centerburg and Fredericktown. He spends Monday mornings at Danville, meeting with students and connecting them with opportunities throughout Knox County.
Students explore career interests through job shadows, internships and connections with local employers.
“Starting their career education at an early age pays incredible dividends,” McCutcheon said. “The seventh and eighth grades are when they want to learn.”
He said nearly 100% of the students he talks with, including freshmen, now have an idea of what they want to pursue after graduation. When he started working in Knox County in 2020, about half of the seniors he met with did not know what they wanted to do.
McCutcheon and Yoder work together to best connect and guide their students to resources that might otherwise be difficult to find.
“Between the two of us, we’re able to, at the very least, get the kids pointed in the right direction,” McCutcheon said.
Setting up for the future
The resource lounge is designed to address more than students’ physical needs. It’s also a place where they can go for mental health support or simply to to take a beat and reset.
The space features low lighting, fidgets and other social-emotional resources.
Yoder said she has already noticed students developing the ability to regulate their emotions without always needing an adult’s assistance.
“I’ve seen several students who used to come to me almost hysterically last year,” Yoder said. “Now, they might be waiting to talk to me or they might not be, but they’re going out and utilizing that space on their own.”
For Yoder, that independence is an important measure of progress.
“In my opinion, a lot of what I’m doing here is meant to help them not need to talk to me all the time,” Yoder said.
The same emphasis on independence carries into career preparation.
About 25 students across the county, including from Danville, participate in a senior workforce class each year. Ariel Corporation and Kokosing provide many of the opportunities for Knox County students.
The resource lounge and “College Corner” give students access to career information even when McCutcheon is not in the building. It also offers a comfortable setting for conversations about the future.
“When they’re relaxed they open up a lot more, and the conversations are easier,” McCutcheon said.
Measuring the impact
Early usage numbers suggest the resource lounge is reaching more students.
In September 2025, there were 66 visits to Yoder’s office. In September 2026, after the introduction of the Future Pathways Office, the number increased to 96.
Yoder said awareness of the space continues to grow, particularly among younger students still becoming familiar with the building.
Snively said the district is not currently collecting formal data on the space. Evaluation will be left to Yoder and the principals, who may consider both student feedback and usage numbers.
McCutcheon also said the impact of career education can be difficult to measure. Job placements and internship participation provide concrete numbers, but the effect of career exploration is harder to quantify.
However, measuring the initiative’s full impact goes beyond the numbers.
The district sees the lounge as a way to encourage attendance by strengthening relationships between students and school staff.
“When there are positive relationships at school, kids are going to want to come to school,” Snively said.
Looking ahead
Despite the early progress, the program faces challenges that will require continued attention. Funding is one of the biggest considerations.
The Knox County Foundation grant provided the initial resources to transform the rooms, but Yoder said maintaining the space will require continued planning.
Yoder hopes to keep expanding the collection of social-emotional resources while making responsible use of the remaining grant money.
The district also hopes to use the space to connect students with outside mental health providers.
Yoder said the rooms can accommodate outside therapists who need a private place to meet with students during the school day.
She emphasized that her role is not to provide intensive therapy. Instead, she works with students on immediate challenges that might prevent them from learning before helping them return to class.
Students with more extensive needs may benefit from access to outside professionals.
For some families, arranging appointments outside the school day can be difficult because of work schedules, transportation and the distance between home and available providers.
Yoder sees the space as a potential way to reduce those barriers.
“It’s about making it available,” she said.
For Danville, the resource lounge represents one part of a larger effort to make student support more accessible.
Snively said the district wants to create an environment where students feel comfortable seeking help, exploring opportunities and building positive relationships.
Yoder said she hopes the space eventually becomes so familiar that students know where to find what they need without having to ask.
“If somebody says, ‘Where’s that XYZ scholarship?’ one of their peers is going to say, ‘That’s down in the College Corner,” Yoder said.
“I’m here to support them and be there for them if they need or want me to be, but I don’t have to be there in order for them to get what they need to be successful,” Yoder said.
(Here are Alexandra Hopkins’ of the Danville space).
