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.
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• 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.
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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.