During a challenging year for students across the Tri-State, school counselors are stepping up to support them across the board — keeping them on-track with academics, promoting social and emotional health, and helping outgoing seniors prepare for college.
These tasks are more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The way that life has changed recently for them, it's created more loneliness than they have maybe ever experienced in their life,” counselor Amy Maxwell said of her Anderson High School students.
She and colleagues across Greater Cincinnati have tried to meet that loneliness with compassion, support and extra attention via video calls when it’s needed.
Keeping students motivated to work while learning remotely or at a six-foot social distance is about more than lesson plans, added Nagel Middle School counselor Kathy Roberts. It’s also about ensuring they still have opportunities to be part of a class.
“I’ve been trying to facilitate a way to get kids interacting with one another,” Roberts said.
The results have been heartening at her school and others.
"They have risen to the occasion, I think, in many ways more than the adults have,” said Christine Hamm, a counselor at Nagel Middle School. “The students are truly who impress me the most in all of this."
