This school year, Ridgeview introduces Pac center, a new class at room 901 with student advocates who help any students on campus with counseling or tutoring. This class is an opportunity for students to have one on one support during first through sixth periods. Students are either referred by a counselor or teacher, but a student can also go themselves. Pac center helps give student advocates experience to careers which offer help like teaching or medical fields. In Pac center, students work with helping other students become more capable and accountable for their behaviors with students who have disciplinary issues in class or students who are referred from the dean. Student advocates also counsel students with restoring their relationships whether it is with parents, teachers or other students.
Student advocates initially learn more from being in Pac Center. Jason Jenkins, Pac centers teacher explains, “What the student advocates are doing are real world skills, the record keeping and scheduling that they have to do, the professionalism that they have to keep between students as well as teachers on campus is real life and not textbook learning.” Pac center is a place on campus that is impacting students while also improving their interactions with people and their education. There are requirements to be a student advocate in this class. You are either recommended by the school or you could recommend yourself and go through a process. Maya Hendershot, a student participant said, “To be a student advocate you have to understand confidentiality and have the maturity to keep what’s said with the person you’re talking to and you need to be seen as a leader.
Many students in Pac center are upperclassmen and are in that class for their college applications. People interested in going into teaching, social work, or psychology as a career can benefit from this education. Jenkins stated, “I have a number of students advocates that are not going into a helping profession but graphic design, or law or other unrelated areas and the people skills that they develop here are priceless and so virtually any career where you’re going to have to interact with a spectrum of people and personalities this gives you that exposure.” Students are encouraged to participate in Pac center as advocates. It’s also a place to go if needed for support and getting more involved with the school. Alaysaeh, a junior advocate says, “I think colleges would be interested in the students voluntarily wanting to be in pac center and going out of their way to help others”
Student advocates in this class give other students an open opportunity to seek further help to better their years in high school. Student advocates get the advantage to experience fields they’d like to pursue and help them with college applications or to make sure they want to work in that field for the rest of their lives. Pac center works on helping students on campus restore and provide support to Ridgeview students’ relationships and school lives.
