Not your mama's counselor

Christina DeLoach is about to start another exciting year as the School Counselor -- the only one for almost 600 students -- at Colt Elementary in Marble Falls ISD. Rotarian Keith Powell (who just happens to be her Principal) brought the program to us, and seemed to be most impressed at having the only counselor who could fieldstrip an M-16, this from her years in the Army. 

 

Christina is bi-lingual in Spanish and comfortable in Farsi, the language of Iran.  She was formerly a Spanish teacher and has recently migrated to the counseling profession. She has brought some new perspectives on counseling to Colt.

 

A surprise to most of the early-morning assemblage of Rotarians was the extent to which "character" is being emphasized in the counseling approach. That audience grew up with the school counselor simply deciding who was headed to college and, if so, which one. Helping with scholarships and loans was a large part of those duties.

 

Character-building and mentoring is a large part of what Christina brings to her job. Many of her students lack support systems such as 2-parent homes, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, a church home or other places of refuge when life gets in their way. 

 

She created the "C-3" program -- the "Colt Character Crew" which grew out of small group mentoring sessions to a community-service oriented group. 75 of the 4th and 5th graders applied with a formal application including a paragraph to justify their participation, and a commitment to do an hour of community service. Their project was to spend time at Arbor House to spend time with elderly residents. 

 

While intended to provide friendship and stimulation to the residents, the program in turn was a benefit and blessing to the students. One young man who suffered from low self-esteem and who initially was reluctant to be paired with two ladies, discovered that one of them had been a riveter during World War II.  He, like most of the "C-3" crew could not wait to come back and in this process the youngster learned that he had something to offer. Of the 75, 58 students completed the program.

 

Character counts. Thank you, Christina, for helping build character in the future citizens of Marble Falls and future members of Daybreak Rotary.

 

Christina hopes that Rotarians and other community members will share their time and talent 30 minutes at a time to broaden the experience of a 4th or 5th grader. There are many simple ways to do this and if you are so inclined, call her at 830-693-3474 (main number at Colt) or email her at cdeloach@mfisd.txed.net.