New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Westbrook High leads on school ‘climate’
WESTBROOK — We’re not talking about climate change here per se, but about changing the social and emotional climate for students for the better.
And now, there are some experts on the shoreline. Westbrook High School students have become leaders in improving the social and emotional climate in the town’s public schools, and are now sharing that knowledge with other schools, educators and community groups.
To that end, the high school’s Teen Leadership/School Climate Group recently received a $5,000 grant from the Connecticut Education Association for travel and materials, said Chet Bialicki, teen leadership coordinator.
Notably, the students also recently shared what they’ve learned with college students from eight different states at the National Education Association New England Aspiring Educators’ Conference, the first time there was a student presentation, according to Bialicki.
Improving school climate through the teaching of social and emotional skills has become a big thrust in the country, he explained, but what has been different in Westbrook is that the work is student led.
Since 2010, as part of anti-bullying legislation, the state has required all Connecticut schools to complete a yearly school climate survey of students, staff and families.
In 2013, Westbrook schools completed the nonprofit National School Climate Center’s Comprehensive School Climate Inventory. But that year, the superintendent asked high school students to do a communitywide survey, as well, and the students presented the findings of both to the high school in 2014, he said.
“That started the whole process,” said Bialicki, of students wanting to take action.
From their survey, students learned that the community was getting information from national and state news rather than from them, he explained, which led to community outreach through summer job training, internships and volunteering.
The school climate survey indicated students needed help in feeling socially and emotionally secure, and the use of social media, which the students believed were correlated, said Bialicki.
As a result, students started running workshops, including one on empathy for elementary school; the effect of social media on girls, what prevents males from sharing emotions, learning and developing self-confidence, all in middle school; and working with students “as resources” in high school.
They held Awareness Days in 2016 and March 2018 in the high school where community members ran workshops on such things as addictions, domestic violence and nutrition, with keynote speakers and a cookout.
The $5,000 grant will not only allow students to share their work with other schools and groups, but also support the students’ day of training for other Connecticut high school students in Westbrook.
The school climate work promotes the concept that youth are resources (that students can offer skills), as opposed to being objects (adults knows best) and recipients (students just take away a skill).
“Working with students is our motto,” said Bialicki.
“The single biggest predictor of student success, including academics, is the presence of solid, supportive mentoring with adults,” said Westbrook Superintendent of Schools Patricia A. Ciccone.
“That’s pretty much our model,” she said, as she gave a high-five to a student.
The School Climate Group has worked with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and installed posters with statements such as: “Born This Way,” “When Was The Last Time You Laughed” and “What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?”
Bialicki said the current school climate group’s “A–team” includes juniors Kendall Orlowski, Olivia Archer, Lexi Koplas, Madison Liberatore, Alex Young and Olivia Hartzell — and 25 others.
“I remember listening to seniors and to be able to keep that going is so impactful,” said Liberatore, who was in middle school when the program started.
“It’s far more impactful than listening to a teacher or an adult,” said Young.
School climate “is all about relationships,” and helping people feel emotionally safe, said Young.
“We’re so fortunate that we have that relationship with our teachers,” said Liberatore.
Hartzell said the school climate group was even part of the process to choose the school principal.
Orlowski said that two years ago, the group asked students to anonymously finish the sentence, “If only my teachers knew …” to find out what students were thinking, but might not share and a common answer was, “… how hard it is to get up in the morning.”
Other comments were: “That endless homework doesn’t seem to help me, but stresses me; how hard it is to play sports, have a job, and do all my homework; and how hard it is being different and how much it plays a role in my life and how much bullying I deal with.”
Liberatore said elementary students are taught empathy by making an emotion out of Play-Doh and she was particularly touched when one student explained she made a heart “because her dad passed away and she will always hold his love in her heart.”