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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2020)
MAY 29, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3 KeizerCommunity KEIZERTIMES.COM CCMS counselors focus on student mental health as pandemic lingers Can’t stop, won’t stop KEIZERTIMES/Lauren Murphy ABOVE: Members of the McNary High School Latino Club gathered with the teachers and mentors to receive their graduation sashes Saturday, May 23. BELOW: Emely Medina (left), who helped mas- termind the whole event, puts on her sash. Despite a pandemic cancelling or postponing most of the milestones graduates partake in, the advisors to the McNary High School Latino Club didn’t miss a chance to mark the moment for its graduates. The senior members of the club gathered at Dutch Bros. on River Road North Saturday, May 23, to receive the sashes they will, we hope, wear at a gradu- ation ceremony in August. ASK MR. TRASH Q. I heard about China’s ban on recycling. What IS recyclable now? A. Be very careful to only recycle the things on your hauler’s approved list. ©1986 PLASTIC BAGS, STYROFOAM, AND WAXY CARTONS WERE NEVER RECYCLABLE! PLEASE KEEP THE FOLLOWING GOOD RECYCLABLES EMPTY, CLEAN AND DRY: • Cardboard and uncoated greyboard boxes (Shipping & cereal type). No frozen food boxes! • Print-quality paper - newspaper, junk & office paper, and magazines; • Tin & Aluminum Cans Only - NO foil, trays, or scrap metal; • Plastic Bottles and Jugs Only - NO bags, tubs, clamshells, bubble Pak, or other plastics. Serving Keizer for Nearly 50 years! LOREN'S VA L L E Y SANITATION & RECYCLING SERVICE, INC. RECYCLING & DISPOSAL, INC. 503.393.2262 503.585.4300 WE TAKE PRIDE in being staff ed better than any other senior living community Come See the Finest in Senior Living CALL (503) 390 -1300 1165 McGee Ct NE • Keizer, OR • VillageAtKeizerRidge.com BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes The COVID-19 pandemic has provided unique circum- stances across the country for students and their parents. Fortunately the counselors at Claggett Creek Middle School have been collaborating over the past two months to help parents and students cope with their stress. Ashley Delarosa, Amy Aebi and Kenzi Mozejeko have prid- ed themselves on how to be virtual counselors due to their inability to meet with their stu- dents in person. Thanks to the counseling support system they helped cre- ate — which can be accessed on the Claggett Creek website — Delarosa, Aebi and Mozejeko have been in contact with hun- dreds of students over the last two months. “Ashley, Amy and Kenzie have been stepping up in a big way to support our students and families. In addition to follow- ing up with students and fam- ilies in need that are identifi ed by our engagement team, our counselors collaborated with our engagement team to design an online counseling support system and, in the fi rst week alone, helped 96 CCMS stu- dents who accessed their system to request counseling support,” Claggett Creek principal Aaron Persons said. Meeting students and their individual needs takes up at least 80 percent of a typical school year for the counselors at Claggett Creek. That continues to be the priority during virtu- al counseling as Aebi, Delarosa and Mozejeko strive to carry out their primary focus during this time: care and connection. “We have had to be cre- ative in how best to communi- cate with students and families. Some prefer phone calls, while others may like to speak with us in an email. For some students and families, this is an especially stressful time,” Aebi said. “Along with having to navigate a new way to access school, they may be feeling worried about the health of family members, loss of employment, grief at can- celled activities and feelings of loneliness or boredom. Our goal is to be as accessible as pos- sible to our students, supporting both their academic and social/ emotional needs in whatever way works best for them.” To best connect with students, the counseling team created a Google class- room to allow kids to speak with a coun- selor and are also in com- munication with teach- ers about any concerns that students or parents might have. Mozejeko also noted that “our district counseling team has a general site for families and students to reach out with questions or concerns and we each take district offi ce hours, in addition to our school offi ce hours.” Although virtual counseling has been incredibly productive at Claggett Creek thus far, the struggle of not having in-per- son connection with students has presented its challenges. “Not being able to meet with students can be diffi cult. Body language, tone and oth- er non-verbal communication forms are often lost in virtual communication,” Delarosa said. “Confi dentiality is also a con- cern. In a virtual environment, we want to make sure students feel safe and confi dent that their information remains confi den- tial. When we are unable to meet with students face to face in a controlled environment, we want to take extra precautions to ensure student safety and confi dentiality.” However, the virtual com- munication has brought on many positive aspects as well, including in- stances where Aebi, Delarosa and Mozejeko have learned from their stu- dents. “Engaging students and families virtu- ally has been new and dif- ferent. We all had the challenge to learn new virtual tools very fast and we are continually impressed by our students and their tech skills. Many students have helped teach us the best ways to com- municate in this new virtual world,” Delarosa said. Volunteers needed The City of Keizer is look- ing for volunteers to serve on the following committees and boards, including a new board that will review the city char- ter for revision and updates: • Public Art Commission (two vacancies) – meets the third Tuesday of every other month beginning each Jan- uary to discuss matters and make decisions pertaining to Keizer public art projects. • Keizer Points of Inter- est (one vacancy) – meets the fourth Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. to identify and memorialize points of in- terest. • Youth liaison and pages – teens can apply to be youth voices on many of the city’s committees. Meeting times depend on assignment. Applications are available on www.keizer.org or in per- son at the Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road N.E. Ap- plications are due by Wednes- day, June 10, at 5 p.m. to be considered during the June 18 meeting of the Volunteer Co- ordinating Committee.
