Jennifer Madrid

“MC2 with SEL will focus on military-connected (MC) students enrolled at five elementary campuses and one prekindergarten campus selected for the number of MC students and proximity to Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas. Fort Bliss is the second largest military installation in the U.S. Army. The district's SEL Coordinator, Elementary Lead Counselor, and identified School Counselors will develop the curriculum and the correlated pre/post-test that the counselors will implement through small group instruction. The curriculum, based on CASEL's Five Core Competencies, will address topics such as: 1) Orientation; 2) Self-Awareness; 3) Self-Management; 4) Social Awareness; 5) Relationship Skills; 6) Responsible Decision-Making; and 7) Bringing it Together. Developmentally, elementary students are learning how to form friendships, navigate their peers, and control their emotional responses. They are learning that they can use their thoughts to regulate emotions and that they can intentionally hide or express emotions (Denham, S. (2018). Keeping SEL Developmental: The Importance of a Developmental Lens for Fostering and Assessing SEL Competencies). The lessons, supports, and modeling provided in this project are designed to address the particular fears, questions, and aspirations of MC students in prekindergarten through grade five. The desired impact is to increase resilience, reduce stress, and reduce risky behavior which may positively influence student academics, behavior, school attendance, and grade-level promotion.”