CHS Students Serve as Peer Counselors

The following article appeared in the April 2010 edition of The Columbian, the student newspaper of Columbia High School. It was written by CHS junior Madison Muñoz.

The guidance office and peer counselors, or "peer leaders" as Student Assistance Counselor Judi Cohen calls them, are a part of a district-wide community service program that helps K-12 students with a myriad of issues. Cohen, along with Student Assistance Counselor Phillip Lester, works with senior peer counselors in mentoring high school, middle school and elementary students. The peer counselors act as mentors for struggling students in need of social, emotional and academic advice.

"I don't think people know how much emotional maturity it requires to be a peer counselor," said Jackson Klein, CHS '10.

Throughout the week, peer counselors visit district elementary and middle school students and participate in various reading activities and games. The main programs that the peer counselors are involved in are Reading Buddies at the South Mountain Annex, mentoring at Maplewood Middle School, and Lunch Box Buddies at Seth Boyden and Clinton elementary schools. Reading Buddies is a new program introduced this year in which the peer counselors help struggling readers in the first grade and kindergarten.

"It was just a fun, relaxing way to help others. It makes you feel good about yourself," said Klein.

"Some people don't know that this year was the first class of peer counselors that has been helping children between the grades of kindergarten and first grade learn how to read," said Troy Gillespie, '10. "Also, people do not know that we participate in events such as 'Read Across America' and multiple family and fun nights at the high school and middle school."

Lunch Box Buddies is a program in which the peer counselors eat lunch with their designated elementary "buddy." The peer counselors have recess with the students and help them with their homework.

"The kids that you deal with in the elementary schools aren't the normal first or fifth graders, so it requires a lot of patience and attention to spend time with them," said Eli Weiss, '10. "In the long run, you have to be patient and try to engage the kids in any way you can, whether it's joking with them or relating to them."

Not only do peer counselors eat lunch with their "buddy," they mentor them and discuss anything that may be on their mind. "My lunchbox buddy and I talk about college, books, education, the importance of respect and other topics that have been influencing him to continue with grade school and on to college," said Gillespie.

Peer counselors develop strong relationships with the students they are mentoring, and they also develop a strong bond with each other. "You get to know all the peer counselors a lot more. Even if you may not be friends with them before you spend a lot of time talking about serious issues and conflicts, it eventually feels like a family," said Olivia Leone, '10.

Although mentoring the students can be difficult, the peer counselors maintain their composure and do their best to help. "Teaching children right from wrong is an obstacle sometimes, because it's very easy to sound like a parent when you only have intentions on giving them some words of wisdom. My lunch box buddy got into a fight with another kid at school, and before we began to discuss the issue I just explained to him that I was not there to criticize or judge him for what he did, but to try and open his mind up to the consequences of violence," said Gillespie. "He totally understood where I was coming from and decided to take what I had to say into consideration."

When they are not keeping students and each other company, peer counselors bond with students on a deeper level as they mediate disputes between students. "I know I will always remember everything I did and learned as a peer counselor," said Leone. "Not only did I become friends with a different group of people, I learned from them."