Ivy Tech Community College & The Workforce Development Grants

As many in the world of secondary and higher education are discovering, in this age of a booming economy, the skilled trades are hurting for good workers. The state of Indiana has come up with an excellent solution to aid industries with a partnership they call Next Level Jobs. Please take a look at these websites: Department of Workforce Development and Next Level Jobs

Instead of paying to go to college, industries will pay young adults to do on the job training and get necessary certifications in five high demand fields: Advanced Manufacturing, Building and Construction, Health and Life Sciences, Business and IT Services, and Transportation and Logistics.  Students who apply and get accepted to one of the partners in these areas can get their training paid for through the Workforce Development Grant and credits through Ivy Tech Community College.

Many high schools have dual credit programs through their Career and Technical Education Centers and students are already earning certifications. Students who study in these fields in high school are often ready to start a job upon graduation if they complete the one or two year programs.  Students can continue their education after graduation through these partnerships. Students who may not have had the opportunity to enroll in a CTE program in high school now have this opportunity after graduation.

Upon completion of the program, a person can earn between $12-45 hourly, with no college loans!  Students who want a hands on occupation or career should look into this opportunity. To get started, please take a look at the websites listed above.

Graduation Pathways in Indiana: A Simple Explanation

Graduation Pathways is the new term for End of Course Assessments and ISTEP in Indiana. Students who do not pass the ISTEP exams in high school can now qualify for graduation if they meet criteria in three different categories. The first category is to take all courses to qualify for a high school diploma, whether that is a Core40, Technical Honors, or Academic Honors diploma.

The second category is to complete 100 hours of community service, extra curricular activity, work hours or service learning. Many of the students at my school have part time jobs, so we are already talking to students about meeting this requirement by turning in a W-2 or year to date pay stub.

The third category is a little more daunting. Students must show proficiency on one of several exams or take a Career and Technical Education class (CTE) through their local Vocational Tech program and receive a grade of C or higher for 6 credits, which is one full year of the program.

The exams students can choose from include ACT, SAT, and the ASVAB (the military aptitude test). Students must achieve the college readiness or military readiness score on one of these.

For more information, please visit the Indiana Department of Education website and follow this link:
Indiana Graduation Pathways

Free Army Educator Tour to Fort Sam Houston

As an educator, I don't get to do very many things for free, especially professional development. So when I received an e-mail from my local army recruiter saying the Army was going to sponsor an educator tour over the summer and it wouldn't cost me anything, I submitted an application. I sent several e-mails asking if I had been chosen, and when I was, I was really excited.

I  knew the Army recruited kids out of high school and they had to go to boot camp, but beyond that, I didn't know much about the Army except that if a recruit served, they could also get a free education.

The place we got to go was Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio Texas. We spent two full days on the base with travel days on each end, for a total of four days. During day 1 we toured the education campus and saw what medical jobs recruits are trained for. This base is phase 2 of Army training. Phase 1 is boot camp. Recruits come to Fort Sam Houston to be trained in a variety of medical fields. Respiratory, Optometry, Dentistry, Surgery, you name it, they are trained to fully operate a field hospital anywhere in the world.

On day 2 we went to an FOB (Forward Operating Base), which is basically a field experience set up for a real situation. In this case, we were going to "Afghanistan." On this site we observed recruits rehearsing real life situations on realistic mannequins. For example, they had to repeatedly do things to "save"a person until they reached a certain minimal time.  They learn to apply tourniquets, put in trachs, and stabilize a person.

I have always respected military personnel, but after this trip, my respect level went up a notch when I realized how much they have to learn and the courage they need to face dangerous situations. If you are an educator and have the opportunity to take this tour, I highly recommend it.  The Army seeks to put young people in a career they will enjoy for a lifetime, as well as prepare them to defend and protect all of us.

Mental Health in Schools

One of my Facebook contacts recently posted a journal entry from a student who knew the shooter in Florida.  It was posted in the New York Times this past week. Here is the link. Please take the time to read it: I Tried to Befriend Nikolas Cruz

This female student had an interaction in 7th grade in which he threw an apple at her back and he seemed to enjoy that she was hurt. Then in 8th grade, she had to tutor him as part of the peer tutoring program she had signed up for. At that time she also had a negative interaction with him.

Here is a quote from her article:
 "It is not the obligation of children to befriend classmates who have demonstrated aggressive, unpredictable or violent tendencies. It is the responsibility of the school administration and guidance department to seek out those students and get them the help that they need, even if it is extremely specialized attention that cannot be provided at the same institution."

I have been a school counselor for 20+ years and I agree with this student. In addition to the school staff assisting aggressive and mentally ill students, it is also the responsibility of the family unit to do something about this.  In all of my experiences with these types of students and their guardians, the guardians have been willing to follow my suggestions, whether that be getting a private therapist or having their child evaluated by an inpatient stress center.

Also in my experience, students come out of inpatient mental treatment centers and either continue their behavioral and mental health cycles, or they truly have reflected on what has happened to them and strive to make positive changes. Human emotions and actions are very complex. A child's formative years usually happen before age 10. In fact, research would tell you that personality is developed by age 6. Click here to see one article: Personality Set For Life by 1st Grade.

While personality is a big part of someone's biology, their life experiences play a huge role in how that personality develops over time.  I personally believe that only God can change a heart, and most of our efforts are futile at best. A child must develop an internal moral compass and a desire to look outward past their own pain and troubles to truly change. He or she must also develop strong, positive relationships along the way. Those they can confide in and get advice from. Most children are very open to adult influence. Those who have suffered much abuse and actually have had their brains altered due to emotional or physical trauma are the ones that are most resistant to change- whether they are able to on their own, or not able to based on severity of brain damage.

Every individual is different and there are a myriad of ways to help someone- therapies, medications, hospitalizations, etc. For some, those treatments may work, but for others, it does not, and those are the ones who end up in the penal system with severe mental illness and inability to cope or change.  While it is very sad, consequences must be handed out for the crimes.  Whatever solutions we come up with, we must not give up on the child. We must be vigilant and communicate with family to come up with the best possible treatment for mental health issues.  All students deserve to be protected.

Sensitive Souls

I wrote the following five years ago, but never posted it. As I re-read it, I thought, "I need to go ahead and put this out there. Someone needs to read it." I have since given up running, but that word can be replaced with biking, walking, exercising . . . etc.

I love to run. I can't run far, but I love to run. There's something about just getting out into the fresh air and taking a quick run around the neighborhood, listening to my favorite music. I do a lot of thinking on my runs. I usually am out for 20-30 minutes at the most, but it's enough time to get by myself with my thoughts and try to talk to God.

Sometimes I wonder why I am running, or what I might be running FROM. On my latest run I was thinking about sensitive souls- people who are conscientious of what others think of them and always take criticism, bad or good, to heart. I lose sleep over things that most people would just say, "If they think that about me, that's their problem."  Other people's comments toward me about my personality or character become my problems.  I was trying to think of a way to explain it to the world, and a word description came to mind. To a sensitive soul, a gentle reprimand sounds like a screaming accusation.

I often get accused of being "too sensitive," and jokes toward me shouldn't be taken so seriously. I should just laugh along with everyone who makes fun of me, because they are just kidding.  Most of the time, I just laugh, and other times, I just walk away so they can't see my expressions.  No one knows how deep the teasing goes, because I just laugh right along with them and pretend to laugh at myself. They don't really mean anything by their joking, and I know that.  To be honest, I don't really know why I am so easy to tease!  I guess I just say silly stuff.

Why am I telling you all this? And what does it have to do with school counseling?  People who have been hurt deeply are often sensitive people.  They learn to be tough on the outside and tough on the inside.  Being tough on the outside is the easy part. No matter how tough I try to be on the inside, there are still things people say that really hurt me, and they have no idea why, so I just keep it to myself.  I often worry that I am going to hurt someone's feelings or make someone mad. If I do make a mistake and say something I think I shouldn't, I always talk to the person to apologize. I'm often met with a comment like, "What are you talking about? I didn't think that was mean at all."

And then I go home and run. I can't wait for the day when I can run through heaven, and never get tired, and not have to stop because my knees are hurting.  And I can run and not have a heavy heart, and all the music I listen to is praise to God for bringing me safely home, passing through a hurting world.
When I meet a sensitive soul at school, I always encourage them to run. "Why?" they ask.

"Because it will make you feel better. Trust me."