Letter to Sophmore Parents

Peer Counselor Program

For those of you I have not had the pleasure meeting, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Amanda Hembree, Bayside Academy's Counselor and Peer Counselor Coordinator. I counsel all students from Pre-School to High School, who may need help with certain problems in their lives. As a parent, I'm sure you are aware of some of the problems of today's youth. Sadly to say, it's just not easy to be a child anymore!

Today's youth struggle with more emotions, dramatic conflicts, and increasing responsibility for their own lives. They often display low self-esteem and poor communication skills. Children are uncertain about appropriate values, and feel more peer pressure to do harmful actions, like drink alcohol, and/or take drugs. Because of these problems, there are necessary programs needed in today's education systems that help prepare children for today's society. One national program that has made a difference in helping school's resolve these problems, is a program called Peers @ Work.

This program is an academic class, taught to selected students who are interested in helping themselves and others. These special students are called "Peer Helpers", or "Peer Counselors", both titles are used nation wide. There are many benefits of having Peer Counselors at Bayside Academy. For instance, research has shown that peers have a great influence over another peer's life. Therefore, this influence is what allows a Peer Counselor program to be very successful. Peer Counselor's primary goals are to assist students with academic, personal, and social needs. Peer Counselors become the school's role models.

All Sophomore student's interested in the Peer Counselor program will go through a selection process. First, the interested student must complete an application. The application requests a brief description of the student's activities, an essay on why they want to be a Peer Counselor, and asks the student to select two teachers of whom they want to complete a student evaluation form. Upon completion of the application process, the student will participate in a brief interview, in which they will answer questions regarding their desire to become a Peer Counselor. Based on the completion of the required steps, a committee comprised of Tom Johnson, William Carroll, and myself, will choose whom we feel will be the most effective Peer Counselors at Bayside Academy.

After the selection process is completed, the selected students will take the Peer Counselor course in both semesters of their Junior year. The students will then implement their learned skills during their Senior year, as the school's Peer Counselors. Peer Counselors are exclusively Seniors, and will be available to help all of Bayside Academy's student body, even the little ones.

Those selected as Peer Counselors will be appropriately trained on how to help students suffering from such problems as: drug and alcohol abuse (oneself or a family member), eating disorders, depression, peer pressure, coping with a loss of a family member, medical illness (oneself or a family member), struggling academically in one or several subjects, relationship problems (friends or family), ethical dilemmas, peer conflicts, and several other topics as well.

Through learning how to handle some of today's realistic problems facing their peers, Peer Counselors will have an extra advantage on other students. In helping other's resolve their problems, Peer Counselors will learn skills that allow them to effectively manage their loves as well. Peer Counselors will learn life long skills that will guide them into adulthood. They will learn such skills as: empathy, integrity, communication skills, facilitating classroom discussions and/or group discussions.

The Peer Counselor course is a credited course, which students will receive credits throughout their Junior and Senior year. Because of the national regard of the Peers @ Work program, colleges and universities will be delighted to see this on any child's admission forms. If you have any questions, or concerns regarding the course, please contact me at (251) 338-6432 or ahembree@baysideacademy.org

Sincerely,
Amanda L. Hembree, MS LPC NCC
Bayside Academy Counselor and Peer Counselor Coordinator

"It's 10PM. Do you know where your children are?"

Back in a more innocent time, this public service announcement was broadcast throughout America’s living rooms on a nightly basis. While it is still a good question to ask even today, a more pressing question is “It’s anytime, do you know what your child is doing online?”

Technology is everywhere, and while it has done so much good in the world, there are also just as many (if not more) downsides. How many times have you joked about technology making your life “easier”? In many ways it has, but it also has given children and adolescents access to information well beyond their maturity level and emotional capabilities. You might not be able to be everywhere at all times, but with your child and his laptop/cell phone they can be!

The very idea that a minor can be everywhere always is pretty frightening and overwhelming, but there are some simple things parents can do to help minimize any potential damage:

• Education: You have to know about the things and ways children are accessing the web. Know if your child’s cell phone is internet capable (and remove the service at the provider level if you don’t want them to be able to use it). Know if they are on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Livejournal, Second Life, etc. For a list of major active social networking sites, click here. Know how to use those sites if your child is on them.
• Communication: Talk to your children openly, honestly, and often about how much time they are spend online and where they are going while they are there. Sit down with your child and review his/her page(s) and those of their friends. Discuss any questionable or problematic content immediately. Keep in mind that children and adolescents tend to be very trusting and open up easily online. Often times, they do not understand that something they post online is there for the entire world to see and future colleges, employers etc. may be looking into their “internet personality”. Talk to other parents to see if they are monitoring their child online (that old adage about safety in numbers is true).
• Prevention: Come up with ground rules for internet usage. Keep the computers out in the open, by merely being able to see what is going on you can prevent a lot of nefarious activities. Avoid webcams, especially if the computer is kept behind close doors (this avoids the temptation to easily post pictures they may regret deeply later in life). Fill up your computer with the latest internet security tools and make sure you keep up to date on virus software.

Some websites I have found to be useful:
NetSmartz
WiredSafety
ProtectKids

Feel free to contact me at anytime if you want to talk more about parenting and internet safety!
Best,
Amanda