Project Personal Development

About the Authors

    Eliot Battle is a native of Mobile, Alabama, who holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Tuskegee University in Alabama and an M.Ed. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has more than forty years experience as a counselor in the public schools of Missouri, with more than thirty years of those years spent in Columbia. Mr. Battle retired from the Columbia Public Schools in 1991 and has served as a special assistant to the president of Columbia College for six years. He is currently serving as a private educational consultant. Among the honors Mr. Battle has received are the following: Citation of Merit Award, College of Education, University of Missouri – 1979; Outstanding Administrator, Columbia Public Schools – 1982; National Merit Achievement Selection Committee, Evanston, Illinois – 1988-91; National Test Review Committee, Princeton, New Jersey – 1990; and Pioneer in Education, State Department of Education – 1994.

    Tom Arni was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and holds a B.S. in English, an M.Ed. in guidance and counseling, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, all from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has served as a school counselor in both junior and senior high schools and has been the Director of Guidance at Rock Bridge Senior High School in Columbia, Missouri, for the past 25 years. Dr. Arni is a past president of the Mid-Missouri School Counselor Association and received the 1986 Outstanding Counselor Award from that organization. He has been particularly active at the state level where he has co-authored and helped in the development of the Missouri Career Education Delivery System and the Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program.

    Judy Nolke grew up in Raytown, Missouri, and received her bachelor's degree in English education and her master's degree in school counseling from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Mrs. Nolke has taught both junior high and senior high English and has served as a counselor for students in the seventh through twelfth grades. For the past 20 years, she has been a high school counselor at Hickman High School in Columbia. Mrs. Nolke is active in local and state professional organizations, having served in leadership roles at both levels. She enjoys helping students develop and direct their life plans as well as supporting their development into independent, responsible adults. Mrs. Nolke is also the mother of a high school student.

    J. Bragg Stanley was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and holds a B.A. in psychology from Emory University, an M.Ed. in counseling from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an Ed.D. in educational administration from MU. Dr. Stanley has been a high school teacher and counselor since 1974, serving as a school counselor for the Columbia Public Schools since 1982. He is currently serving as high school guidance director. Dr. Stanley has been active in professional guidance associations at both the regional and state levels. He has been a presenter at national, state, and regional conferences and has served on a variety of state committees. In 1990 he was named Counselor of the Year by the Mid-Missouri School Counselor Association.