He thought about becoming a rabbi. Then he went into business and became the top salesman in the country for his company.

But after a few years, Harry Nerenberg decided he want to go into teaching. That was 1979, and that, he said, was the last time he woke up and had that dreaded ``I-don't-want-to-go-to-work'' feeling.

The Palmetto Sr. High School guidance counselor has been in the Miami-Dade School School system for 25 years. Before Palmetto, he taught at J.R.E. Lee Opportunity, where he became a guidance counselor, before moving on to John F. Kennedy Middle School and South Dade Sr. High. Switching schools several times has been a good way to avoid getting burned out, he said.

``Palmetto is definitely a different kind of place to be a guidance counselor,'' said Nerenberg, who taught in Philadelphia before he moved here. ``You can have kids worried about college and financial aid, and the same time, we have kids who are thinking of dropping out or who are struggling.''

He's not a fan of all the paperwork, especially this time of year.

Counseling students is the part of the job he really loves. The best reward, he said, is students start referring to him as ``my counselor''.

``It's the idea of trying to get them to think for themselves, to make decisions and understand the consequences,'' said Nerenberg, 57, who said he never tells students what to do.

He doesn't remember his own high school guidance counselor's name -- something that's always bothered him. But he went to see the counselor after his first attempt to get into college failed.

``Back then, it was Vietnam,'' Nerenberg recalled. ``But he just said, `Don't worry, we're going to get you in', and before I know it, I had my admissions letter.''

Nerenberg has dealt with difficulty, like the death of his young nephew.

But his philosophy is that you can't change what's happening -- you can only change how you handle it. That's what he tells the students, and that's how he lives his life.

``I've always believed in being extremely positive,'' he said, which now means believing that thing are going to get better -- for the economy, the country, and the local community.

``Economically, we're all tightening and watching our budgets. You just have to have a faith, that this country and we are strong enough to handle everything.''

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