Power
There are two kinds of power at play when you're a psychologist in a learning setting. The first and most obvious to anyone who has been through America's school system is the administrative hierarchy (a.k.a. all the people who can give you detention).
At the tippy top is the School Board that decides everything from whether a new staff member gets hired to how much to budget for music and arts programs (not enough, whatever it is).
Then, of course, comes the top of the school: the Principal/Dean, followed closely by their staff―assistant principals, administrators, and the occasional guidance counselor. These people are responsible for the day-in, day-out goings on of the school as a whole (or a hole, depending on how much money the School Board gives them). Below that, and above teachers, are your specialist professionals: the school nurse, the head librarian, and the school psychologist.
In this capacity as a quasi-administrator, your power will include a lot of perks that many run-of-the-mill faculty members don't have. For instance, at your say so, the entire school can be required to hold an assembly to discuss some kind of important issue, whether its bullying, saying no to drugs, or teaching breathing exercises―although the Principal will likely use their own power to veto that last one.
You can also suspend students, call for conferences with parents, and design entire programs for special needs kids and adults to follow, like some kind of emotional architect building brighter futures out of feelings.
The other power, which we think is a little more important, is the power you'll use to actually help students and their families. While many teachers are wonderful, caring people, their job is to teach kids, not make sure those kids are emotionally or mentally capable of learning. That's where you come in.
Every day of your career, you'll come face to face with troubled youths dealing with broken homes or sudden tragedies as well as a wide range of disorders from bipolar depression and autism to epilepsy and dyslexia. Each and every one of these people will expect you to be able to help them in some way, so you better have the ability to back it up.
And let's be real: if you can make even the worst bully in school break down and ask for a hug, you're a pretty powerful person indeed.