Sunny is a Lewisville High School-Killough Campus sophomore and has been in the Communities In Schools of North Texas program since elementary school. This year Sunny participated in my Girls Self-Esteem group. Sunny had perfect attendance and was excited about group every week. At the beginning of this group, Sunny would almost never speak up or participate, and she was very shy. By the end of the group Sunny was chiming in with her own thoughts, sharing things about herself, and even volunteering to participate in activities!
Sunny also began attending the Bridges to Success college awareness and preparedness group for Chin refugee students. Because Sunny is also Chin, she chose to hang out with this college group since most of her friends were in it. It wasn’t long before Sunny had perfect attendance to a group she was not even a member of, was volunteering to help with tasks, and had become a vital participant! I recently “promoted” Sunny to Assistant Group Leader and she is now in charge of reminding Chin students about group, passing around the group sign-in sheet, arranging chairs and tables for group, and more. Both Sunny and I signed a contract stating that Sunny will maintain passing grades in all her classes and/or will have no missing assignments, in order to keep her role as Assistant Group Leader. While this may seem like a small thing, it’s a huge incentive and confidence boost for this student.
Sunny has struggled academically this school year, but her participation in group and her role as Assistant Group Leader have both helped her to grow in her confidence. Sunny and I often practice conversations between her and her teachers, so that she can work on the social skills needed to interact with them. Slowly but surely, Sunny is improving thanks in part to her relationship with me, her involvement in groups, and the support of LHS Killough’s Site Coordinator Ally Barnett. I am incredibly proud of the progress she has made and I am excited to see how our community of support continues to empower her to succeed.
