Thirteen Ann Sobrato High School juniors are telling teenage
angst to kick rocks. When their peers are feeling alone or want a
different perspective on a problem the new lunchtime club, members
of which are training to be peer counselors, will be there for
comfort and advice.
Thirteen Ann Sobrato High School juniors are telling teenage angst to kick rocks.
When their peers are feeling alone or want a different perspective on a problem the new lunchtime club, members of which are training to be peer counselors, will be there for comfort and advice.
“When you’re in darkness, what do you look for? The light. We will help you find your way,” Amy Morimoto read from a first-draft mission statement she and classmate Sean Wright wrote. The teens will champion the first-ever counseling club – a “part of Sobrato history,” Anvari said.
The 13 juniors sat in third-year Spanish teacher Melanie Anvari’s classroom with their lunches in one hand and the other wiggling, grabbing for the ceiling. They spent the period on March 23 voting for – following a contested recount – the club name of “Guiding Lights.”
“That inspired me,” Anvari said, the brains behind the operation.
“We’re inspiring people already,” Wright cracked.
The club is meeting weekly this semester and will become a full-fledged elective in the fall with up to 36 students who will receive their training from Anvari and the 13 originators. Guiding Lights is establishing guidelines on how to maintain confidentiality among the counselors and students, as well as how to respond in a nurturing way to their peers.
Anvari is deep in her own training and research of counseling – the club and class are actually her master’s thesis project for San Jose State University. She’s earning her M.A. to become a school counselor and essentially diving into uncharted territory – completing her thesis while simultaneously leading Guiding Lights and in August teaching the class on how to peer counsel.
“That’s the cool thing,” Anvari said, “I have the research in counseling and everything I’m learning, but we’re coming up with it together.”
She said she’s been poring over her books on how to best implement a peer counseling program at the secondary school level, which is also the title of her thesis. The class will be approved as a University of California elective, pending approval, so that students can take the class that they would need to be considered for enrollment in the UC system. Some electives are distinguished as “UC approved” depending on the rigor and curriculum.
The students were unabashedly eager to explain why they joined and were just as enthused when asked if their friends usually go to them for advice. Thirteen heads nodded.
“I’ve been known as a problem-solver,” Wright said. A classmate added that their peers sometimes don’t turn to teachers for help because they can feel intimidated, “but we can understand their issues,” he said – especially timid, eyes-on-the-ground freshmen.
“We’ve been through it more recently than the adults,” Amethyst Aguilar said.
Estevan Santiago said he signed up because he wanted to help the school community, “and we’re on the level of our peers, we’re able to better understand what they’re going through.”
Sobrato does have a yearlong marriage, sex and family psychology course whose teacher and Anvari are working together to decrease overlap in curriculum. Anvari is also planning to pool resources, such as using the same guest speakers or possible collaboration on projects.
Over Memorial Day weekend, Guiding Lights are prepping for a teamwork and bonding trip to a YMCA campsite in the redwoods near La Honda – “where we will learn to love one another,” Morimoto said. The Sobrato Home and School Club and Live Oak Foundation are funding the trip, though the date is tentative for now and may move to the summertime.
Until June, Guiding Lights will work on forming strategies with Anvari on how to best direct students and also maintain trust and acceptance.
“It’s part of the school that’s missing,” Santiago said.
“We need this,” Anvari added.
