H-E-B Award Funds Counseling Office Makeover
I am really excited to tell you about how we spent the H-E-B Award funds transforming the HGMS Counseling Office into an interactive and safe place for our deserving students. The goal was to create a space that kids felt was welcoming, calming, modern, and a safe place that they could go to when they needed help. I envisioned it almost as if they were at a retreat. First, this meant that we needed to update the area to have cool, relaxing, and calming colors. We added a modern, new, black couch, grey trendy fabric chairs, shelves, a "calming" table with games/ activities, and a huge "egg" chair where kids could lounge or almost curl up. We also added soft pillows and blankets for students to feel invited to sit in that space because it just looks so comfortable. We utilized a variety of patterns and colors of contact paper to cover outdated furniture. We added framed awards, bulletin boards, different motivational signs to encourage and inspire our students. We even added Grounding Techniques to signage to help students self-regulate when having a panic attack. The coping skills bulletin board acts as a place where kids can grab take-aways such as how to cope with anxiety, losing a loved one, or breathing exercises. My hope was to help a student change their mindset when faced with an obstacle and give them coping skills to work through difficult times. The addition of the calming space and interactive bins are my favorite things about our updated counseling office! Many kids have trouble managing their emotions and have never learned positive coping skills to help with life's ups and downs. Therefore, I feel strongly that it is our job as counselors to introduce new techniques that could last a lifetime! In order to do this, we created a calming space to give our students an area to be who they are in that moment. We added a bright white table, a fun, clear bucket chair, and a variety of activity bins filled with fun things such as bracelet making, crocheting, drawing tools, coloring mandalas, games, diamond art, sticker mosaics, and kinetic sand to name a few! All of these interactive things represent positive coping skills that kids can now utilize in our counseling office to cool down or relax while they wait to speak to a counselor, or if they just want to stop by. Our goal was to transform the actual space to welcome our students, while giving them tips and tools in a fun and organized manner. We wanted our students to know that if they are dysregulated, they can come into the counseling office and choose an activity that will assist them in coping. I think that we did a good job in creating a calming space that invites kids to be who they are in that moment and I am proud of that. I felt that this was an important initiative to invest money on because I always want our students to feel welcome and comfortable in the HGMS Counseling Office. If we can't create that environment for our students, they will not come in for help. That would result in many lost opportunities to help a child process through really hard things.
November is Generation Texas Month
Generation Texas is a statewide, grassroots movement promoting a culture of college and career readiness leading to the most successful generation ever. All over Texas, students are finding their voices, setting strong goals, and fueling the movement called Generation Texas. Through both inspiration and information, Generation Texas connects students to each other and clarifies the steps they need to take on the path to college and career education, from taking the right classes and tests, to applying to colleges, to finding the money to pay for school.
Take a look at the flyer below for Garcia Dress-Up Days!
Joseph C. 😁
Favorite Hobby: Baseball & Fishing
Favorite Class: Spanish
Lauren V.😀
Favorite Hobby: Soccer
Favorite Class: AVID
