Focused Highlights

By: Jackie Valenzuela, High School Counselor

A couple of highlights from this year that we would like to share with you are a book club we facilitated with high school parents, a visit from Freedom from Chemical Dependency and the addition of facility dogs on campus.

Over the course of four months the counselors, school psychologist and Dean of Students met five times with a group of parents and discussed the book, Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. In this well researched book Hari investigated several causes of our diminished ability to focus and discussed individual and societal solutions. As a follow up to our conversation with this small group of parents, we partnered with the middle school counselors and facilitated a Parent Meeting with close to 100 MS and HS parents where we shared recent research findings related to social media use and the impact it has on all of us, adults and kids alike.

Another highlight this year was our visit from FCD (Freedom from Chemical Dependency). The representative, Morgan, met with the Grade 9 and 10 health classes, as well as Grade 11 students. Morgan also worked with health teachers, administrators, and counselors to discuss prevention strategies, and to have honest conversations with one another about attitudes toward using substances. There was also a well attended parent session, which was highly successful in ensuring that the conversations around substance use are taking place with students at home.

And last, but certainly not least, we introduced Charlie and Monet, both golden retrievers, to our high school students. Fabia and Stefan, members of our Nichada community and dog trainers, have graciously shared Charlie and Monet with the high school two days each week. The dogs have visited classrooms and Advisory and have been wildly popular. Here is just one quote from a student on the impact their presence has had, “I can feel myself calming down when I’m really stressed out and the last time they visited my class I actually became more focused.”

We hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday break. For those leaving, we wish you all of the best as you head on to your next post or return home. For those returning, we’ll look forward to another great year when we all return in August.