Senior Updates from SUHi Counseling

Hi Red Devils! It's your SUHi Counselors dropping by to say hello!

Our hope is that you and your family are well and in good spirits.  As the end of the school year nears, we would like to encourage students to continue to do well in all your classes.  

We understand distance learning can have some challenges, so it’s important that you maintain contact with all your teachers, they are always available to support you, and counselors continue to be available to all students/parents who have any questions or concerns. 

You may have already heard that our district recently adjusted graduation requirements for the class of 2020. This adjustment is not meant to affect the graduation status of any senior.  If we discover any issue connected to this change, your counselor will personally reach out to you. 

  

In addition, we would also like to encourage all seniors to take a minute to answer a few questions on our SUHi Counseling Senior Exit Questionnaire which is linked below.  

By filling out this questionnaire you will have a chance to sign-up for our Virtual Signing Day activities. We plan to recognize the awesome accomplishments and commitments you all have worked toward in the last few years.

The deadline to fill out the SUHi Counseling Senior Exit Questionnaire will be MAY 11th.  

SUHi Counseling Senior Exit Questionnaire:   https://forms.gle/JEX7tguvuQ1KfaPQ9

IMPORTANT REMINDERS :

*MAY 1st: Deadline to submit your intent to enroll for seniors who have been accepted to a 4 year university.  

*If you have not completed your FAFSA/Dream Act, it is NOT too late to submit.    

For FAFSA: https://studentaid.gov   or   For CA Dream Act:  dream.csac.ca.gov

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your counselor with any questions or concerns.

Student Last Name	Assigned Counselor	Phone Number
A – CAM	Brenda.Chavez-Casas@sweetwaterschools.org	619-474-9721
CAN - FER	Nancy.Garcia@sweetwaterschools.org	619-474-9754
FES - HERN	Marivel.Arroyo@sweetwaterschools.org	619-474-9733
HERO - MEN	Marco.Garcia@sweetwaterschools.org	619-474-9723
MEO - PL	Christine.Barragan@sweetwaterschools.org (sub. for Eleina.Vallejo-Paez@sweetwaterschools.org)	619-474-9722
PM - SAN	Lysabeth.Luansing-Garcia@sweetwaterschools.org	619-474-9771
SAO - Z	Michael.Briney@sweetwaterschools.org	619-474-9719

Once a Red Devil, Always a Red Devil!

Your SUHi Counselors

SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH IS A CIVIL RIGHT CONTEST

California Association of School Counselors are launching a contest to provide a platform for students to express their feelings about mental health services in school. Students can submit essays, poetry, visual art, songs, videos, or any form of expression. 

Here are some ideas and facts to guide your creations. 

You can also answer this guiding question: 

Why/How is mental health and well-being critical to student success?

• Discuss your thoughts or feelings on school closures and their impact on student mental health, stress, and trauma.
• If the California legislature reopens soon, lawmakers will vote on ACR 172 to declare May 4-8 Student Mental Health Week. This is historic, but not enough. Review the language of the legislation. Share your thoughts or creative interpretation of it.
• California is 48th in the nation when comes to access to school counselors. Here there is only one counselor for every 600 students although experts recommend at least one counselor for every 250 students. Almost 400,000 California students are in schools that lack a counselor but have a police officer. How does this limited counselor access impact students?
• California’s students are among the least likely in the nation to have a social worker in their school. Currently, there are over twice as many police in schools as social workers in California.
• Most of California’s schools do not have a full-time nurse. California has more security guards in schools than nurses who provide physical and mental health support. Thoughts? 
• Many California school psychologist serve over 1,000 students. As a result, many students are not able to receive the supports, interventions, testing/assessments, and more that they deserve.
• Our recent report published with youth leaders found over 40% of school districts are illegally spending money on police and security that should spend on staff like counselors and nurses. Thoughts?

Entries will be publicized on social media and will be shared with the public, including with CA education leaders.

DIRECTIONS: Email your entry to acluca.yls@gmail.com by 8pm on Friday, May 1st. Winners will be announced by May 5th and will be welcome to join us in a Zoom meeting/webinar on May 8th at 11:00 AM.

PRIZES: Amazon gift cards ranging from $50 to $100.

RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS

• California Department of Education Resources for Student Mental Health
• Student Wellness Resources
• COVID19 Guide for Students and Parents
• #CREATEATHOME resources to create art at home
• Crisis Text Line- Need some support? Text “Home” to 741741. It lets you connect with a trained crisis counselor without having to talk on the phone.
• National Alliance on Mental Illness- They’ve put together a helpful PDF guide with coronavirus-related questions and resources.
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline- Call 800-273-8255 or text “Hope” to 916-668-ICAN. They offer free, confidential 24/7 help.
• Covid19K-12counseling.org

Summer Paid Training Program

Wellness Wednesday: Reflect What You Desire

Happy Wellness Wednesday Red Devils!

Virtual high fives to everyone for our first week of distance learning. These times are a testament to our ability to be flexible and resilient! We are all doing the best we can! We appreciate you Red Devils!

Feeling good about the future is important for our happiness. Although much of the future is unknown right now, you do have control over some aspects of your life, like creating goals for yourself.

We all need goals to motivate us and these need to be challenging enough to excite us and keep us going every day.

Choosing ambitious but realistic goals gives our lives direction and brings a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when we achieve them.

How to get started? Here is a great guide to create your wellness vision and goal setting:
shorturl.at/msIM5
Feeling lost? Reach out to your counselor and we can help guide you!

Self-Care Tip:Make a list of three goals for the next few weeks and the steps you can take to achieve them.

Kindness Challenge:Create a poster with an uplifting saying and post it on social media. Tag @SUHiCounseling and use #BeWellRedDevils

If you haven’t competed the Counselor Student Check-in Survey, please do so: https://forms.gle/zWYRKgUHwHYgS6ud6

Click here for SUHSD Covid-19 updates:
http://www.sweetwaterschools.org/covid-19-information/

Let's keep in touch via social media using #BeWellRedDevils. We'd love to see your wellness activities!

Be Well Red Devils,
SUHi Counselors
www.SUHiCounseling.com

Boston University Summer Journalism Institute

Last week, Boston University made a difficult decision to suspend all in-person summer programming on campus to keep students and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hearts were saddened by the thought of not teaching journalism to high school students this summer. Then, we thought: if journalists can keep reporting, then, why can't we?

With the help of Zoom and other technology, we decided to offer our Boston University Summer Journalism Institute as an online non-credit course. Students will still have the opportunity to:

• Work with award-winning journalists, such as Pulitzer Prize winners (and BU alumna) Lara Salahi and Rochelle Sharpe, who show them how to follow facts and get to the heart of stories affecting communities
• Hear from guest speakers in the field while learning important journalism tips when covering a crisis
• Connect with students in different parts of the world and time zones
• Have at least one article published to our Terrier website to showcase their work

Our photojournalism session, taught by veteran photojournalist and COM professor Stephen Haines, will also be online. Haines worked as a staff photographer, assignment, and photo editor for the Boston Globe. In this special session, he will help students sharpen their camera skills to teach them the basics of visual storytelling.

New Dates and a New Time:
Now that we switched over to an online format, the program tuition was reduced to $1,200. We also have changed the dates of our sessions to the following:

Session 1a: July 6 to July 17
Session 1b: July 6 to July 17 (Photojournalism)
Session 2: July 20 to July 31

Our online classes will start at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time (9:30 a.m. Pacific Time) to accommodate our students in different time zones. We will also record the sessions to make them available to students who may need to see them at a later time.

If your student is ready for a challenge and ready to get a taste of reporting during a crisis, encourage them to learn more by visiting our website, and apply soon, as spots are limited. The final deadline for submitting an application for admission is June 1, 2020.

SDSU Virtual Presentations

SDSU Admissions is conducting live virtual Zoom presentations Monday - Friday at 9:30 AM for all admitted students. They can register for them at sdsu.edu/campustours

In addition to these events. I will be conducting afternoon presentations for students in my recruitment territories. Please share the RSVP form with your students and families.

They can also RSVP using this link: https://forms.gle/vcDmu9xwPzZ135SKA

Virtual Explore SDSU Open House

We invite you and your students to join us at Virtual Explore SDSU Open House: Beyond the Classroom on Saturday, April 18. This event will be a combination of live and recorded information sessions, which will include topics like student life, financial aid, representation and inclusion at SDSU, disability services, academic programs, and more!

Please encourage your students to register today!