Solution II:
A Friendlier Guidance Department Environment
1. Explanation Ridge students often do not feel comfortable going to their guidance counselor for emotional support; however, by creating a friendlier environment in the guidance department, this can be changed. In our school’s guidance office, students are immediately overwhelmed by the abundance of college banners that cover the walls. This can be counterproductive for students seeking help, as college is one of the leading causes of stress and anxiety. Similarly, guidance counselors are so overworked, they can come off as too busy to assist students or even to merely direct them to Student Assistant Counselors. This is why we want to increase the amount of guidance counselors and SACs in our school. This will improve students relationships with guidance counselors and allows students to feel more comfortable talking to them. By improving the physical and emotional environment of the Ridge guidance department, the level of comfort of students when disclosing emotional information to a professional could in turn, allow students to recognize their own feelings and seek help.
2. Reasoning If students visit their guidance counselors in search of a safe and stress-free environment and are instead greeted with dozens of college banners, they are likely to feel overwhelmed. Creating a friendlier, warmer environment in the guidance office would help to alleviate student stress, anxiety, and mental health disorders because they would feel more inclined to visit when they need assistance in solving a problem, getting advice, or just to talk about their feelings. Similarly, most students are unaware that their counselors are there for them during times of emotional turbulence, and only see them as there for scheduling conflicts; just as some students see "going to guidance" as embarrassing. Getting more guidance counselors would allow each counselor to have less students to take care of, thus they can have more frequent meetings with their students to get to know them better. Forming this relationship will make guidance not the place to just go to talk about class-scheduling or college. Both situations could be addressed by promoting the guidance department further and creating an environment that feels less overwhelming and distant. While hiring more Student Assistant Counselors would be ideal to accommodate for the ever-growing student body in need of emotional assistance, it must first be addressed that students do not already take advantage of such resources due to the stale, distant environment of the guidance department. We also do not want kids to feel embarrassed to visit their guidance counselor, or have everyone think that something bad must be going on with this student because they are regularly visiting their counselor. By allowing for more student-counselor meetings, students will be more in touch with their guidance counselors, thus making guidance office visits less stigmatic.
3. Supporters In order to put our plan into action, we would need strong support from the guidance department. Based on the insight that we gained from our interview with one of the counselors, Mrs. VanDerStad, we can conclude that they would be in support of our plan. Students would also support having more resources where they can easily discuss information and where they would feel less isolated. This change would directly benefit the student them self, their friends, and classmates.
"Students now come and talk to me about mental health issues, more often than in the past. What's interesting is when students come to their counselor they will usually come for simple things like a schedule change. Students will come talk to me about their schedules, and it slowly escalates into problems related into depression and anxiety. For example ‘I want to drop this elective because I am stressed and need to eat lunch with my friends" (DeMarchi)¹. Mrs. VanDerStad, counselor of 23 years.
4. Opponents The direct beneficiaries are the stakeholders that may be likely to oppose our solution. Colleges use high schools as a way to appeal to all different students and removing college banners may change this. Companies should realize that this is best for children’s health and could target their banners to other places such as students going off to college or individual universities. Likewise, the Bernards Township Board of Education may find difficulties with our alternate solution, as they may struggle with figuring out how to make the guidance department overtly friendlier and what this entails. This may also cause some discussion on the budget when it comes to possibly hiring more guidance counselors.
5. Implementation This solution would be implemented by us as students working with the department; we would begin with discussing the proper decor with the guidance department and administration by voicing our concerns to them regarding the college banners. We could propose ideas for the new decor, such as seasonal decorations, pictures of the clubs and sports teams, and other school activities to make students feel welcomed and safe. Working alongside the guidance department and administration, we could use surveys to find data on what would be most effective in changing the environment. The implementation of this goal would require cooperation between our team and the Board of Education and administration. In order to hire more guidance counselors, the school would have to increase the guidance department's budget. This may cause some problems with the other departments by taking away some of their money. However, children's mental wellness is very important and should be at the top of all administrators' priorities.
2. Reasoning If students visit their guidance counselors in search of a safe and stress-free environment and are instead greeted with dozens of college banners, they are likely to feel overwhelmed. Creating a friendlier, warmer environment in the guidance office would help to alleviate student stress, anxiety, and mental health disorders because they would feel more inclined to visit when they need assistance in solving a problem, getting advice, or just to talk about their feelings. Similarly, most students are unaware that their counselors are there for them during times of emotional turbulence, and only see them as there for scheduling conflicts; just as some students see "going to guidance" as embarrassing. Getting more guidance counselors would allow each counselor to have less students to take care of, thus they can have more frequent meetings with their students to get to know them better. Forming this relationship will make guidance not the place to just go to talk about class-scheduling or college. Both situations could be addressed by promoting the guidance department further and creating an environment that feels less overwhelming and distant. While hiring more Student Assistant Counselors would be ideal to accommodate for the ever-growing student body in need of emotional assistance, it must first be addressed that students do not already take advantage of such resources due to the stale, distant environment of the guidance department. We also do not want kids to feel embarrassed to visit their guidance counselor, or have everyone think that something bad must be going on with this student because they are regularly visiting their counselor. By allowing for more student-counselor meetings, students will be more in touch with their guidance counselors, thus making guidance office visits less stigmatic.
3. Supporters In order to put our plan into action, we would need strong support from the guidance department. Based on the insight that we gained from our interview with one of the counselors, Mrs. VanDerStad, we can conclude that they would be in support of our plan. Students would also support having more resources where they can easily discuss information and where they would feel less isolated. This change would directly benefit the student them self, their friends, and classmates.
"Students now come and talk to me about mental health issues, more often than in the past. What's interesting is when students come to their counselor they will usually come for simple things like a schedule change. Students will come talk to me about their schedules, and it slowly escalates into problems related into depression and anxiety. For example ‘I want to drop this elective because I am stressed and need to eat lunch with my friends" (DeMarchi)¹. Mrs. VanDerStad, counselor of 23 years.
4. Opponents The direct beneficiaries are the stakeholders that may be likely to oppose our solution. Colleges use high schools as a way to appeal to all different students and removing college banners may change this. Companies should realize that this is best for children’s health and could target their banners to other places such as students going off to college or individual universities. Likewise, the Bernards Township Board of Education may find difficulties with our alternate solution, as they may struggle with figuring out how to make the guidance department overtly friendlier and what this entails. This may also cause some discussion on the budget when it comes to possibly hiring more guidance counselors.
5. Implementation This solution would be implemented by us as students working with the department; we would begin with discussing the proper decor with the guidance department and administration by voicing our concerns to them regarding the college banners. We could propose ideas for the new decor, such as seasonal decorations, pictures of the clubs and sports teams, and other school activities to make students feel welcomed and safe. Working alongside the guidance department and administration, we could use surveys to find data on what would be most effective in changing the environment. The implementation of this goal would require cooperation between our team and the Board of Education and administration. In order to hire more guidance counselors, the school would have to increase the guidance department's budget. This may cause some problems with the other departments by taking away some of their money. However, children's mental wellness is very important and should be at the top of all administrators' priorities.
Solution II Pros
Implementing this plan will allow students to feel more welcomed when they enter the guidance office. It will allow for them to realize that it is a friendly environment that they can come to when they feel stressed. They will be more likely to open up to their counselors and seek help when they need it, rather than feeling as though they have no one to go to. By creating a more welcoming atmosphere and better relationships among students and counselors, children would feel less embarrassed or overwhelmed to seek help and the wellbeing of the student body would increase. |
Solution II Cons
The new decor of the guidance department may not catch the attention of students if they do not already visit it often. Many students may have the same opinions that they did prior to the remodel if they keep the mentality that the guidance department is not somewhere they can go to seek help. In terms of the atmosphere of the guidance department, by having it appear friendlier, people may assume that the guidance department can replace therapeutic professionals and psychologists. |