“Social emotional learning (SEL) should be at the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students miss being able to see their friends and their teachers/staff. They miss the feeling of being connected to the community. Our goal this year as a counseling department was to implement a 9-week SEL program for our freshmen in hopes of connecting with them during their time of transition to the high school. We started piloting Empowering Confident Youth (ECY) in the fall of 2020 in a remote setting. Though the counseling department had to adjust the programming to better fit our needs, the bones of the program were developed by ECY. Based on the 128 freshmen who filled out the post-survey, 90.6% stated that they attended 6 or more SEL sessions. During the sessions, students became aware of their personal strengths, were able to articulate their core values, and developed self-confidence and social skills and were able to identify life passions. This was a time for freshmen to develop a relationship with their peers and with their counselors, in a time when human connection was even more important. Thank you to Jean Paul and the ECY team for allowing us to pilot this program!”

Lauren Clark, Director of School Counseling