This story is sponsored by St. Peter’s High School.
St. Peter’s Elementary School’s new social-emotional learning teacher and resilience coach, Amy Secrist, has made an incredible difference at the school in just a few months.
“Resilience is the innate and learned ability to do and be your best, to recover from challenging events, and to return to a state of balance after adversity or excitement,” Secrist said in her letter to every guardian.
Secrist joined the team in August of 2021. She visits every classroom and leads different discussions and activities that increase students’ social and emotional skills, including self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.
In keeping with the Catholic school tradition of educating the whole child, mind, body and spirit, Secrist’s emphasis on social and emotional resilience aligns closely with this holistic approach to student formation.
“The way that I describe resilience to the young students is that we can stretch and come back to our healthy shape. We also talk about how it’s not just a physical stretch, but we can also stretch our mind,” Secrist said.
Each time Secrist visits the classroom, there is a theme of discussion around the body and mind connection. Together, the students and teacher look for ways to embody that theme in daily life. Her teaching is body and brain based, so she and the students focus on how the nervous system functions and how the brain functions.
“We do a lot of neuroscience together,” Secrist said, “when we know how those parts of us function we are practicing self-awareness skills.”
Secrist has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master’s in writing. All of her training has been in body based or somatic work, including training in trauma informed work.
“Everything I do here at the school is trauma informed or trauma aware. It completely shifts the approach to compassion,” Secrist said. “When I see a certain behavior, I don’t judge it, the first thing I think is ‘what’s causing that?’ This helps the students feel seen and heard for who they are.”
Secrist’s approach is implemented school wide, so not only is it beneficial for students, but the teachers and staff as well. She frequently reaches out to parents, so this helps for all parties to communicate better together.
Parent Angel Singleton, whose daughter is also Angel, could not praise Secrist more. “Amy Secrist has been a godsend to the school. We are living in different times and it’s great the children can get these types of positive social emotional skills at school. Amy has taught my daughter, Angel, some valuable skills like learning how to manage her negative emotions better,” she said.
“She enjoys the lessons, and she often comes home from school after a lesson and repeats different sayings or activities to deal with her negative emotions that Amy has talked about during a lesson. I’m grateful for this type of opportunity for my daughter and all of the children at the school. In addition to the excellent education she receives at St. Peter’s, now she is adding emotional intelligence skills to her learning.”
There is also a room available in the building called the resilience room for one-on-one coaching. The room’s décor is peaceful and serene. St. Peter’s makes it available to both students and staff. It is full of various resources and materials to further their social-emotional learning.
The impact Secrist is making on the lives of the school community is well recognized.
“Miss Amy has been a wonderful addition to our school this year,” Ashley Rastorfer, the elementary school principal, said. “At St. Peter’s, our social-emotional learning program capitalizes on our already established PBIS (positive behavior support) program and Virtues in Practice program as well as our Catholic faith.
“Our ultimate goal is that students leave here academically and spiritually prepared to go out into the world and make a positive difference in the communities in which they live and work. This new SEL program assists us in shaping well-rounded individuals.”
The program is completely unique to St. Peter’s and is growing everyday. Secrist is creating the curriculum and programs for the school in real time.
“I’m able to set up a firm foundation of knowledge and skills through trauma-informed, resilience-focused approaches using neuroscience, and then address specific and unique needs as they arise,” Secrist said. “It’s really beautiful.”
