Eric Steere’s interest in counseling was shaped and molded by the teachers he had growing up. Their ability to make him feel at ease and confident in new and challenging surroundings stuck with him and inspired his choice to work in education. Years later, UCLA Extension’s college counseling program helped solidify his professional aspirations. The lessons he learned then apply every day in his current job as director of college counseling at a boarding school.

Steere grew up in New Jersey and attended Blair Academy boarding high school, where he was inspired to self improvement, and unbeknownst to himself, set the stage for his interest in counseling down the road.

“My teachers and advisors at Blair challenged me, and they showed such a level of respect for me even as a teenager,” he said. “To have these deep, searching conversations about books, life and the whole world, it really helped me grow in my confidence as a student.”

His next stop was across the pond, in Scotland, at the University of St. Andrews. Moving so far away from home was a big change, but the people and surroundings there helped him take it in stride.

“It was a magical place to be a student. It was kind of romantic,” he said. “You'd get these scenes where you'd be studying and it kind of felt like I was in a movie montage about myself. I was right near the sea and it was just great to be there.”

Steere fell in love with travel. At St. Andrews he studied international relations, and then met his wife in graduate school in England. They moved to India to settle down, and he worked as a writer on various projects and taught English and sociology at college. Still, he had not yet figured out his true calling.

Eventually, Steere accepted a job in admissions at a high school in Kerala, India. Something started to click. While watching his first batch of students graduate and receive their diplomas, the principal asked Steere if he would be interested in becoming a university counselor. The principal had noticed how hard Steere advocated for students and liked how he fought for them.

Steere was sent to a conference to earn a certification and learn to better present educational programs to students at his school. There he met other passionate people who cared for their students just as much as he did.

“I was an introvert, but when I came to the conference, I realized I had so much in common with the people I met there,” he said. “I think it was then that I realized that this could be my calling.”

Steere was inspired by those like-minded educators. He did not have a typical counseling background and wanted to learn more about the basics to improve his craft. He discovered the UCLA Extension College Counseling Certificate Program and applied.

“It started in Kerala. I was working for a school there and then I started gaining opportunities for counseling in different places, one being Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)." he said. “Since I was abroad and doing so many things, the fact that UCLA Extension could be done online was very helpful for me.”

Steere began his classes at UCLA Extension while in the UAE and completed his program online. He took the time to deepen his understanding of the material and improve at the foundations of college counseling. Since he had some experience already, it came to him naturally.

“UCLA Extension was thorough and its courses were structured in a way that helped me understand the fundamentals of counseling,” he added.

After he earned his certificate, he decided to move his family back to the U.S. He applied to boarding schools – a bit of an homage to his past. They settled down in St. Louis and Steere took a job as director of college counseling at Thomas Jefferson School.

“I really focus on what gets my students excited. I have a wide range of academic interests myself, and I love seeing what my talented, bright, and curious students like learning about,” Steere said. “And then I help them find ways to continue exploring.”

Students from all over the world attend Thomas Jefferson School. As a former international student himself, Steere was well positioned to understand the challenges facing students who were studying abroad. To this day, he knows that the connections he has built will last and the people he has impacted will go on to remember their time at Thomas Jefferson fondly.

“One of my favorite things is when I get to travel and see my students at their universities or see them at their campuses and hear about their lives,” he said. “We’ve read and discussed novels together, worked through all of these challenging things about being a teenager, and then you get to see your student out in the world in this life they are building for themselves. It’s the greatest job in the world.”