School counseling runs in Todd Roatsey's family.
One sister, Tara Dawson, is a counselor. Michelle Mincer - his other sister and only other sibling - was a counselor, and still works in the Kanawha County school system.
His dad, Terry? Yep, a counselor. His late mother, Peggy, was also a counselor at Pinch Elementary.
That's where Roatsey, 37, has worked as a developmental school guidance counselor for four years, following four years at Lincoln County's Harts Primary School.
He said he didn't initially intend to become a counselor, but while he was working as a substitute teacher in Kanawha schools, students and teachers would tell him firsthand about the impact the rest of his family was making.
"As I saw my family making a difference in children's lives, I wanted to do that as well," Roatsey said.
He said he wants to leave a "legacy" like his other family members, and part of his legacy will be his recent trip to the White House.
He won the Elementary School Counselor of the Year award from the West Virginia School Counselor Association. The organization nominated him, and he was approved, as the state's national counselor representative.
He didn't win the overall national award, but he did get a trip to the White House to meet first lady Michelle Obama. He also met acting U.S. Education Secretary John King and retired Miami Heat basketball player Shane Battier, who has been involved with helping disadvantaged kids.
Jill Cook - assistant director of the American School Counselor Association, which presented the national award to Katherine Pastor at Arizona's Flagstaff High School - said Roatsey was among representatives from 47 states and Washington, D.C.
"It was a black-tie event," Roatsey said. "I was very humbled and very honored to be there and to be there on behalf of all of West Virginia."
He said his job involves helping children with their academic, career and social needs, while teaching them leadership skills based on Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," made famous by Covey's 1989 bestseller of the same name.
Roatsey said Pinch Elementary doesn't have an official "The Leader in Me" program, which adapts Covey's 7 Habits for children, but it effectively is one because the habits are ingrained in his work. He said the program helps teach children to take ownership of their actions and their words, and has improved attendance, behavior and test scores.
He also leads 10 different small groups for children, with about two to eight students each, and sends out surveys to parents to gauge what their children need. He said the groups focus on topics like dealing with anger, divorce, grief and peer pressure, as well as topics like friendship, school success and study and organizational skills.
For fourth- and fifth-graders, he also uses the Too Good for Drugs program. He and Pinch Principal Betty Moore also have established a student council and a "Tech Force" of all students that helps other students and staff with their technology needs.
Roatsey expects to graduate a year from now with a doctorate in educational leadership administration from an online university. He said he'd like to either work in the counseling section of the state Department of Education, as an elementary school principal in Kanawha County or as someone who teaches schools how to implement "The Leader in Me" program, the effects of which he's analyzing for his dissertation.
He read to a reporter a letter from one of his former students, who is now in the eighth grade, congratulating him for his award.
"I have never met anyone like you," the letter said. "You have taught me that there is good in all people in this world, and that it's OK to trust someone."
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.