DOING GOOD

from Woodbury August 2021

SCENE

Mental Health Matters

South Washington County Schools receive a grant dedicated toward student mental health.

BY HAILEY ALMSTED

“MENTAL HEALTH has really become a basic need. It’s a foundation for kids being able to learn,” says Cheryl Jogger, South Washington County Schools community engagement coordinator and founder and chair of the South Washington County Community Action Reaching Every Student, or SoWashCo CARES, board.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, also known as NAMI, one out of six children ages 6–17, or 16.5 percent, experience a mental health disorder in 2016. For students in Minnesota, that number is slightly higher—according to the Minnesota Department of Health, in 2016 one in five students showed signs of depression.

For South Washington County Schools, mental health has always been a priority, especially given the circumstances surrounding COVID. “Many students and families are struggling more due to the pandemic,” Jo Park, special services supervisor, says.

In March of this year, the Woodbury Rotary Club raised funds for student mental health in the district. All-in-all, the club raised $20,865 for SoWashCo CARES through several primary sources of funding, including through community citizens and organizations, other Rotary Clubs and the Rotary District matching grant.

Woodbury Rotary Club members Alan Henaman, director of public image, and Larry Propst, director of grants applications, say the relationship between the Rotary Club and SoWashCo CARES has been strong through the years; so, donating toward these efforts was the clear choice.

“We wanted to become more involved with the school district, since it was such a direct link to the youth in [South Washington] County,” Henaman and Propst say. “And the best was to do this was through SoWashCo CARES …”

Prior to the nearly $21,000 grant, the Rotary Club initiated a mental health program with SoWashCo CARES in February 2020, where $2,500 was donated to the program. When the Rotary Club learned the program needed additional funding, the club stepped up to the plate.

The grant is being allocated toward mental health services, mindfulness tools and supply training for district staff. “The training is for clinical social workers to increase their skills and give them more tools in their tool bag,” Park says. The two classes include social thinking— understanding how we think and express ourselves with other people—and yoga calm—moving your body to reduce stress, increase attention and engage your brain.

Grant and wellness coordinator Jodi Witte says student mental health has been an ongoing concern for the district.

“We’ve heard for years that some kids would fall through the cracks, and sometimes that was due to financial issues, but sometimes they just needed more support, help and treatment,” she says. “We worked at it, and that’s when the Rotary Club stepped up …”

“Basically, there was no reason for us to do anything other than support additional programs and services [that] SoWashCo CARES could develop.” Henaman and Propst say. “They are, and will continue to be, very successful and insightful about what is needed.”

Witte explains that bettering student mental health begins with understanding what the needs are, and Park agrees, noting how finances play a large role.

“Students may lack transportation, or their lives are too busy—students with families who work at night [or] households where students have other commitments— to receive therapy outside of school and it’s hard to consistently go to therapy,” she says. That is where the districts three community agency partners, the Youth Service Bureau, Family Innovations and Ellie Family Services, step in.

“[Those partners] are providing therapists in our schools, so we can support kids right within the school day,” Park says. “Students are allowed to attend therapy during the school day [and] receive support and function better and access learning easier.”

To assist with financial burdens, a large sum of the Rotary Club grant is going toward families who are unable to access therapy. With the grant, the district can assist families with filling out paperwork, learning how to apply to programs, referrals and help find insurance.

“So many social and mental health issues in our schools is where ground zero is. We don’t usually have funds to help directly, but this is pulling our community together to work with providers and fill the gaps,” Witte says. “… That’s the really important piece here. When we come out of this, in some capacity, we can better serve our kids and understand their needs.”

Regarding SoWashCo CARES programs, Jogger says, “All programs are community driven, student-centered and designed to help the district help the students. It’s our community helping our community.”

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LOOKING

FORWARD

LOCAL NONPROFIT TURNS STUMBLING BLOCKS INTO STEPPING STONES.

While Sara Swan has over two decades of experience in special education, she initially didn’t have plans to turn a one-off mentorship into a full-fledged organization. But, she ended up developing Looking Forward Life Coaching (LFLC), a nonprofit mentorship program that works alongside people who could use some assistance in a variety of ways.

Swan recalls that, while working at a local preschool, she had a conversation with one of her coworkers about the coworker’s son, who had difficulty in high school and was struggling in college. The coworker, who knew about Swan’s background in special education, asked if Swan could help.

Swan agreed and started to meet with Nate, and the two began setting goals, which they worked toward for about 20 months. “I turned to his mom and said, ‘Do you think this could ever be a profession for me?’” Swan says. It was Nate’s response that moved her forward. “He said, ‘Listen; there are so many people like me that are falling between the cracks that you need to help. Yes, you have to make this a business,’” Swan says. “He’s been my inspiration ever since.”

With an office on the west side of the Twin Cities metro, Swan says staff meets clients in their homes, coffee shops,

Swan says she is amazed at the reception LFLC has received, across the state and federally as a nonprofit. With 11 part-time staff members, serving communities throughout the Twin Cities metro, Swan says an even broader, multistate online program is in the works. “I’m very humbled and in awe of that, and the fact that no matter what, every day we grow in one way or another, and that’s exciting and scary and wild to know that there is a need out there,” she says.

restaurants, parks or virtually. “Honestly, if you name the suburb, I know where the Caribou and Starbucks are located. I have been to them all,” she says, illustrating the business’s geographic reach.

During her time working in the education system, Swan found that schools were very system-centered, emphasizing a collegiate-focused model that might not be right for everyone. In 2001, Swan discovered an approach to challenge the formulaic strategy when she took a training course on personcentered thinking.

“It was like a lightbulb moment,” Swan says. “It takes an entirely different approach, where you’re looking at the person and seeing all the incredible, great things that the person has, does, is working toward, instead of focusing on the ways to put that person into a system. Some systems don’t work for people … They need different ways of support.”

While Swan wasn’t able to fit this approach into her teaching career at the time, this person-centered approach is now the mantra of LFLC. “We are able to tailor it to whatever the client needs,” Swan says. Topics include tutoring to prepare for the ACT/SAT, learning how to travel internationally, obtaining a driver’s license, honing interpersonal skills and more.

Swan’s first “client,” Nate, has been working with her for 10 years. “She’s helped me get through college, find a career, prepare me to rent my first place and become independent,” Nate says. “Together, we turned what worked for me into Looking Forward Life Coaching.”

Another client, Jason, connected with LFLC two years ago when he decided he needed to find healthier ways of dealing with everyday struggles. “In my life prior to seeing her, I came up with my own coping that wasn’t helpful or productive in moving my life in a forward direction,” he says.

Jason continues to work on dealing with conflicts, both perceived and real. “[I’m] working to interpret my interactions with others correctly and then have the correct proportionate response,” he says, adding, “This comes out in my marriage, as well as other daily interactions.”

Swan says that the reason the organization is called Looking Forward is because mentors and clients spend their time together doing just that—looking forward. “We’re not therapists, we’re not social workers or anything like that,

Looking Forward Life Coaching 612.503.7414 lookingforwardlc.org Looking Forward Life Coaching

so we’re not focusing in on the past per se,” Swan says. “It’s more, ‘What are the tools that we can put into their tool box of life that can be beneficial to take them to the next steps in life?’”

In particular, Swan recalls a young woman, who wanted to move to North Carolina to be with her boyfriend. Working on a nine-month timeline, Swan and the client broke down the move step-by-step, including searching for an apartment, applying for identification and renewing her driver’s license. Up until the week before the move, Swan and the client worked to get everything ready.

Nearing moving day, Swan took the client out to lunch, bringing a box with her. “Our theme is changing stumbling blocks into stepping stones,” Swan says. “I gave her this box. In this box, I had taken rocks and on each one of the rocks I had written each one of those different goals: find an apartment, renew driver’s license, save up money, so on and so forth … I said, ‘Listen, this was you; you did this. I came alongside you and encouraged you, but this was you. You changed all these things that were once stumbling blocks into stepping stones, and, look, you get to get on the airplane tomorrow, and you’re moving to North Carolina.’”

About two weeks later, Swan connected with the client’s mom, who asked her about the box. When getting ready to fly off to her new life, her daughter couldn’t have cared less if she had her phone, iPad or luggage. “She said, ‘She had to get on the airplane with that box of rocks. It had to be under her arm at all times,’” Swan says. “And I said, ‘Well, that was her journey, and that’s a visual reminder that she did it. She got to that point.’”

A Language of Opportunities

written by Samantha DeLeon photos by Chris Emeott

THE SOUTH WASHINGTON COUNTY SCHOOL IMMERSION PROGRAM PAVES THE WAY FOR STUDENT SUCCESS.

“In this moment in the world, where we try to understand people, it’s really nice to try to bridge this world by learning someone else’s language,” Cynthia Maldonado, principal of Nuevas Fronteras Spanish Immersion Elementary School, says. By learning another language, it helps people to try and understand another person’s perspectives and experiences; it also might change someone’s worldview.

That is why students at Nuevas Fronteras Spanish Immersion are becoming prepared to be global citizens through Spanish proficiency and cultural awareness. With more than 450 students, the elementary school serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of the South Washington Country Schools district.

Being one of 16 elementary schools in the district with a Spanish immersion program, Nuevas Fronteras is the just the start of South Washington Country Schools’ K–12 Spanish Immersion Pathway. The Pathway begins in elementary school, continues on at Woodbury Middle School and ends at Woodbury High School, where students complete two immersion classes a day: Spanish language arts and social studies. Once students reach high school, students can complete a capstone and, if eligible, can receive a bilingual seal on their diploma.

According to South Washington County Schools, Nuevas Fronteras has had quite the journey. The program began at Bailey Elementary School in 2003 and later moved to Crestview Elementary School. A grant from the Minnesota Department of Education supported the creation of immersion schools and provided funding to repurpose Oltman Middle School as Nuevas Fronteras. So, in 2015, the Woodbury community welcomed the repurposed building for a dedicated pathway school: Nuevas Fronteras.

Construction of Nuevas Fronteras didn’t begin until 2018, and ensured flexible learning spaces for teachers to provide students with personalized learning. Many classrooms in the school open up to larger learning spaces, and the school also has a media center that features a variety of workspaces for students. In addition, there are several devoted spaces for the arts and athletics, along with a 300-seat auditorium, art classroom and spaces for groups.

At the elementary school, students are

Cynthia Maldonado, Nuevas Fronteras Spanish Immersion Elementary School principal.

Trey Edgerton, Spanish Immersion Pathway 2014 alumni.

“I loved Spanish immersion. It was an experience like no other.” —Trey Edgerton, alumni

fully immersed in the Spanish language while learning the same curriculum as traditional elementary schools. In the classroom, students learn about global cultures with teaching assistants from Latin America and Spain. (Though not all teachers are native-born speakers.) The teachers personalize learning for students by building relationships and they meet with each student before the start of the school year. With 20 classrooms and 25 teachers, students are not only taught by bilingual and certified speakers, but they develop better communication skills and gain awareness of other cultures.

Because of the school’s popularity among the Woodbury and surrounding communities, getting your student in the school can be somewhat challenging. “There are a lot of parents that don’t get in the first year. There’s always a waiting list,” says Maldonado. To make the admissions process fair, South Washington County Schools offer two programs: Multiage Choice and Spanish Immersion. Interested families apply for the programs and acceptance is determined by a lottery process. Maldonado says if future students continue to work on their Spanish, there generally are spaces that open up by lottery.

In the four years of being with the school, Maldonado has enjoyed every second. Reflecting on her students who are in the program, Maldonado says, “In immersion, they learn to read, write and speak in a second language. Often, they are more engaged about global issues because they are speaking another language; so, they’re more interested in Spanish speaking countries.”

Maldonado says this year and last has been different because of COVID19, since students would typically celebrate cultural celebrations, including Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), dance and sing in some classes.

But even through COVID-19, students are never without their community of peers and teachers who help them through their Spanish immersion journey. Maldonado says, “We want them to be bilingual, biliterate and bicultural in the fact that they’re very open to other cultures, are globally aware and that they can work in the current world.” She believes her students are more aware of the whole world by learning another language and, in doing so, it teaches them how to empathize with someone of another culture. “You really get to know who they are if you speak their language.”

Trey Edgerton, a 2014 Spanish Immersion Pathway graduate says, “I loved Spanish immersion. It was an experience like no other.” His most memorable experience was the annual Festival de las Culturas (Festival of Cultures), an end-of-the-year festival where students experience the different Spanish-speaking cultures intertwined through dance and poetry.

“Just being able to see the different influences and countries of Spanish speakers and how different their cultures are in one night, really speaks to the diversity within the Spanish speaking community,” Edgerton says, noting the event was also a great night for the community to experience.

Edgerton says the pathway program has been helpful in numerous ways, including on his study abroad trip to Spain in 2020. In addition to interacting with the local community, he says the community was impressed with his ability to navigate the country. “It gave me that sort of ease and feeling of security in a place I’ve never been to,” says Edgerton. Maldonado adds that each student in the pathway program is diligent and dedicated to the program—and she is excited for a long future with the pathway.

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