I’m an intern with See the Girl Elementary. I meet with a cohort of girls, sometimes one on one each week and sometimes in groups. We do different lessons – skill building lessons, working on communication skills, building healthy relationships, safety matters, creating safety plans. The goal of the work with the girls is to increase their confidence and their social emotional skills in the classroom, among their peers, with teachers, hoping they take these tools home and out into the world. We also work with teachers, school counselors, vice principals to approach the girls from a holistic view, and giving each girl support, not putting all of the weight and pressure on her to, you know, achieve success in school, but to also give the teachers and other administrators skills to better relate, better understand and better support the girls. Really understanding that each child is unique and that each child is going through different struggles or different circumstances. Really seeing each child for who they are as a whole person and how to best support that person in their learning and flourishing. This is part of my Master’s program for social work. I am really interested in social work because I want to be a part of a change for people and with people.
Sometimes, many times, these girls can’t articulate what’s going on. And that’s part of the work – building their vocabulary to express to teachers, friends, parents how they’re feeling. Giving them more emotions, expanding from, you know, angry, mad, sad, and being able to have those discussions in safe ways. To feel that they have supports around them. To know that they have safe and trusted adults, that they’ve built relationships here in the school to be able to advocate for themselves, and to be able to really communicate for themselves and advocate for their needs and their dreams, what they want to do. And also to keep them connected in school.
It’s easy for adults to see behavior, and only see behavior, and not to look past what that behavior is trying to tell us, where it’s coming from. To really see the girl, and to see her as a whole person.
I’m someone who really likes to plan and have everything all lined up and know what to expect, and that’s just not a reality when working with these girls. There’s always something unexpected, and it keeps me humble, it keeps me flexible, and I learn a from these girls every single time I meet with them. They are not just dealing with schoolwork. They’re not just dealing with the lunchroom. They’re dealing with so much more that I cannot even imagine and they inspire me every day to keep going and to show up for them and to just continue to be a safe person, a safe place for them in the midst of all of uncertainty that they have. Maybe things are not stable at home or there isn’t that consistency in their lives. And so, helping shape their school environment to be a stable, reliable, safe place is something that I’m just honored to be a part of. I want to continue to learn from people and hear from them and hear their needs and just be a supporting part of a greater change in the greater good.
—Elena
