Student support at Lincoln Elementary extends to addressing the social and emotional development of students. On-site social worker Shelby Melton and counselor Carly Rodriguez are a big part of that.

After two years of COVID-19 mitigations, the building blocks of resiliency have been found through the care and support offered by such staff members. Such attention was recognized by Lincoln Elementary School Principal Cindy Frank.

“These two staff members put the social and emotional needs of our students first, whether it be teaching a whole group lesson on how to regulate your emotions or leading a small group on how to build friendships or assisting a child who’s overwhelmed by their feelings,” said Frank.

Social work

Melton, 27, of Sterling, is the school’s first full-time site-based social worker. She started in 2019 and is primarily involved in special education. She has a bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State University and her master’s in social work from the University of Illinois.

Her daily schedule involves evaluating students who are undergoing testing for special education, completing social-emotional rating scales, taking part in classroom observations and conducting interviews with parents and students.

Some students receive direct social services on a weekly basis, such as addressing their emotional regulation, social skills, impulse-control, decision-making, and other functional skills.

Melton also makes herself available to all students who need a break from the class or someone to talk to. She is also part of the school’s safety team, which provides student counseling in the aftermath of a traumatic event — such as the death of a fellow student.

From an early age, Melton knew she wanted to work with children, but not as a classroom instructor. She was a freshman in high school when she decided to pursue school social work. Melton said her own childhood experience of having a challenging home environment, being shuffled between parents as part of custody arrangements, and not feeling accepted by peers, greatly influenced her need to help others.

As a social worker, she can be supportive of children who might otherwise slip through the cracks, she said. As such, her favorite part of the job is the relationships she develops.

“I love having inside jokes or special routines with certain students,” she said. “Watching a child make progress and recognize their growth is so heartwarming. When a student who has difficulty with impulse control stops himself before making a poor choice and is proud of himself, I celebrate. When a child who has big emotional reactions can recognize that something has triggered her and she is able to make a safe choice to take a break instead of having a tantrum, I am so proud.”

She also appreciates the conversations she gets to have with parents, saying that parents of children who receive special education or have behavioral challenges often only hear the “bad news” from the school. She looks forward to discussions about their child’s strengths and progress they have made.

One of the job’s biggest challenges is developing an approach for the school’s high-needs students: getting various team members from school and home on board. The toughest calls are finding the learning environment that suits each child best, she said.

Addressing students’ most basic needs means she lets students rest in her office or finds them a snack if they’re hungry. It’s hard to learn in the moment if in their emotional distress, they are also sleepy or hungry, she said.

“Children seem to have more needs than ever before due to home life, social skills that suffered during pandemic shutdowns, and a higher prevalence of mental health concerns that certainly are not helped by the uncertainties in the world at present,” Melton said.

Melton said the team of special and general education teachers support each other. “There are so many demands on our plates that getting every little expectation done and completed by deadlines is often challenging,” Melton said.

Counseling

Rodriguez, 37, has been in the counseling field for 13 years, with two years at Sinnissippi Centers and 11 years at Lincoln. She has a bachelor’s in psychology and human services and a master’s in school counseling, both from Loyola University Chicago. She lives in Sterling with her husband Dan, daughter Isabella, 7, and son Ronan, 5.

Growing up, Rodriguez knew she wanted to be in the helping profession. Around middle school, she became interested in psychology, and by high school, she was confident about that chosen field. While taking psychology classes in college, she was drawn to adolescent and early childhood counseling and when a professor suggested school counseling, she said it was a “light bulb moment.”

“I do my best to build relationships with every student in the school,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes it’s sharing stories about myself or my family during classroom lessons. Other times, it’s through a one-on-one conversation. It’s easier to open up about the hard stuff when you feel like you know each other. Being in every classroom doing lessons with every student helps with this.”

The hard days for the kids are hard days for her, too, when she’s left feeling like she hasn’t done enough or what she’s tried isn’t showing results.

“It’s hard to leave it all at school at the end of the day, but I always tell the kids ‘tomorrow is a new day,’ so I try to live by that as well. I may not handle everything perfectly, but I will keep showing up and giving my best every day for the kids,” Rodriguez said.

After two years of COVID-19 measures, Rodriguez says the shortage of teachers and personnel is also a huge challenge. Still, the Sterling Public Schools teachers and students rely on each other’s support to get through every school day, no matter the challenges.

“Kids are going through more than most of us know,” she said. “I feel fortunate when a student trusts me enough to share something personal. If you are fortunate enough to have a child trust you enough to confide in you, just listen. You don’t always have to have the right answer or solve every problem, but just listening and giving someone the space to share is more powerful than many of us realize.”