SAN JOSE, CALIF.—Justine Kunkel, Silver Creek High School’s Student Advisor, shares about her upbringing as a part of the school’s staff and who she is outside of Creek. 

Kunkel has 10 years of experience working with kids in Bay Area schools. For the first eight years of their career, they worked at Piedmont High School. She worked as a counselor for the first five years and a student advisor for the next three. She then transferred to Silver Creek and is currently our Student Advisor. They have worked at Silver Creek for two years and enjoys many hobbies while balancing her intense work schedule.

Kunkel majored in Sociology, which is the study of social science. This can include human interactions, social patterns and society as a whole. They attended San Jose State University and got both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Counseling. 

In her free time, she enjoys a variety of activities like sports, nature-seeing and adult coloring books. They also like to spend time with her dog, Goldie, who is a mixed rough collie with great dane doberman and shepherd that has turned three recently.

Kunkel likes many genres of music like reggae, rock and r&b. Her top three artists are Khalid (an r&b artist), Rebelution (a reggae band) and SZA, who covers many genres.

She is a big advocate for an improved education system. “Education as a system is frustrating with how lawmakers handle things,” Kunkel says. The amount of options and how it makes students make decisions that might not be the best choice for them. In addition, there are different environments that aren’t heavily available for students who find success in smaller schools or those who struggle with anxiety or depression.

Kunkel’s dream career revolves around helping youth and puts many hours towards her job that go unappreciated so be sure to throw her a “thanks!” next time you see her.