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Liz Colgan
Ms. Buckless
Writing 104 H
11 April 2016
Profile: Robert Houghtaling
I was a troublemaker in high school and a disruption. A class clown if you will, Mr.
Houghtaling chuckles as he tells me about his high school years. I was a very untraditional
student and completely uninterested in school he says, laughing at the surprised look on my
face. Mr. Robert Houghtaling now works in the town of East Greenwich, primarily as a drug
counselor but mostly aims to help students that acted as he did in high school: uninterested in
their learning and written off by teachers due to their lack of interest. Mr. Houghtaling today is
not the same man as he was in his adolescent years. Bobby Houghtaling is now the man that
students rely on for advice and a helping hand.
When he attended high school, Mr. Houghtaling was anything but an ordinary student.
He was a troublemaker and a disruption. He spent more time disregarding his classwork rather
than completing it. Although he was not the most easy going student, he was able to find solace
in history books, National Geographic magazines, and basketball. If you told this fact to any
student in the high school, they would be in disbelief because of the man Mr. Houghtaling is
today. He is attentive, organized, selfless, and extremely intelligent.
He has also learned many things from teachers that influenced him when he was a
student. These influences have helped his style of counseling during his work as a drug
counselor. His fourth grade teacher Mrs. Mclaughlin taught to his strengths by relating school
subjects to things he was interested in, like sports such as baseball and basketball. She taught
me to reach for where the student is. Teaching to a students strengths and interests helps that

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student learn. Her teaching style is something that I try to incorporate into my counseling so my
message is received by the student Mr. Houghtaling explains to me with a relaxed tone. He also
told me about an English teacher, Mr. Sheehan, that influenced him as well. In Mr. Sheehans
class, he was given a journal. In class, he would write about whatever he wanted rather than
responding to a prompt. Mr. Sheehans philosophy was to care more about the fact that the
students were writing, not what they were writing about. When working with students, Mr.
Houghtaling uses the lessons and influences from these teachers to reach his students.
After high school, Mr. Houghtaling struggled with the decision of becoming a history
teacher or a counselor. I loved history class, he tells me. For a student who was so
uninterested in school, history was the one class I relatively enjoyed attending. Mr.
Houghtaling made the decision to become a history teacher and was employed at Ocean Tides, a
school for juvenile students. At Ocean Tides he taught students history, a job he thought he was
going to love. Since Ocean Tides was a school for juveniles, he struggled with teaching the
students the required material. What he enjoyed about Ocean Tides though, was the connections
he was able to make with the students, learning about their lives, and advising them on how they
could reinvent themselves. It was this experience that drove Mr. Houghtaling to go to graduate
school at Providence College to receive a master's degree in psychology.
Mr. Houghtaling can be found wandering the halls of East Greenwich High School on
Wednesdays during Advisory period, high fiving students as they walk by. He also spends time
in the high school on Monday afternoons advising a student run club called The Student
Agenda. Nick Andreozzi, Co-President of the Student Agenda states that, Mr. Houghtaling
seems to be at the high school everyday. He makes time for helping everyone besides himself.
No matter where you are in the town of East Greenwich, Mr. Houghtaling is someone that is

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known by all students and EG residents. Officially, Mr. Houghtaling is the Director of the East
Greenwich Drug Program. He works with students within the high school, offering advice to
those who seek his guidance.
Mr. Houghtaling spends so much time in the high school because he loves the level of
energy the high school students have. I have the best job on planet earth...it is actually fun, he
states. I dont know many people that can say that they truly love their job. Mr. Houghtaling
is the type of person that sees the unlimited potential in students, which is why he loves working
with high schoolers. The students of East Greenwich High School say that Mr. Houghtaling puts
the students first, having their best interests at heart. He strives for them to make good choices in
high school, preparing themselves for a bright future. Mr Houghtaling has impacted many
students at the high school as well as town citizens. He has dedicated himself wholeheartedly to
the town of East Greenwich for years.
Mr. Houghtaling is known by many students and community members as a very
intelligent and helpful individual, which is why I decided to ask him for general advice on life.
Mr. Houghtalings response was a piece of advice that he tries to incorporate into not only his
counseling work, but instill in all of his students. He smiled as he looked at me and said,
Tomorrow you always get another chance, tomorrow there is always an opportunity to reinvent
yourself based on the decisions of yesterday.