Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) pupil personnel workers (PPW) provide students with additional resources to succeed in and out of the classroom. Their main goal is toward enabling students to reach their fullest potential and to become productive members of society. Some CCPS schools have had extra opportunities for growth with guidance from their PPWs this year whether through a Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) initiative or from a desire for students to receive additional support to improve interpersonal skills.
FLEX mentoring group
This past school year, Tiara King, PPW at Mattawoman Middle School and Justine Jewel, PPW at Berry, William A. Diggs and William B. Wade elementary schools wanted to provide elementary-aged students an opportunity to improve their academic performance, attendance and leadership skills through a peer-to-peer mentoring program. “We were excited to be assigned as PPWs to schools in close proximity,” King and Jewel said. “Our first thought was ‘What can we do to have our students work together, and how can we do it?’” The PPW pair was familiar with working together having been co-counselors together in the past, and now as PPWs they wanted to find a way for older middle school students to mentor the younger elementary-aged students. “Our supervisor, Garcia Dixon, had previous experience leading a mentorship program and was willing to provide us guidance and a structure to build our own program,” they said. “From there, we worked to plan and execute our very own program which we named FLEX (Friends Leading Educational Excellence).”
The program participants met during the school year at the end of the school day on a bi-weekly basis. Students at Mattawoman were paired with students from Berry to provide support and guidance toward interpersonal relationships between student mentors, teachers, family members and other adults in the students’ lives, according to King and Jewel. “Being with my mentee, playing games with him and letting him know what to expect in middle school is my favorite part about the program,” Kamron Walker, former eighth grader at Mattawoman, said.
The students have an opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer mentoring, with the older students giving the younger ones a look into what to expect in middle school and ways that they can prepare themselves for the next step in their academic career. “I enjoy getting to know different people and giving the fifth graders a guide for middle school,” Melanie Bush, eighth grader at Mattawoman, said. “Not everybody has that – a mentor or someone to talk to. You can’t always talk to your parents or teachers, so that’s what I enjoy most and why I enjoy talking to them.”
“The thing that I enjoy most was meeting her,” Jayla Rich, Bush’s mentee said. “It has helped me a lot because she tells me how school has been. If I say something was good, she wants more of an explanation.”
Each eighth grade mentor at Mattawoman had six weeks of training before the program started to learn how to be an effective leader to their mentees. “This is the first year that we have done the program and we plan to continue it,” Jewel said.
Elite Black Men of Westlake
The 2022-2023 school year marked the second year of the Elite Black Men (EBM) group at Westlake High School. The students in the group met regularly for events that fostered camaraderie and growth. The group stemmed from the Achieving Academic Equity and Excellence for Black Boys for Maryland (AAEEBB) initiative, an initiative dedicated to developing and implementing strategies to improve the educational experience for Black boys in Maryland schools, according to MSDE’s website. There are two schools from CCPS that are pilot schools for this initiative, Westlake and J.P. Ryon Elementary School. The state noticed that Black boys had some of the lowest test scores but the highest number of referrals. “We were trying to increase academic achievement in Black boys so we created a space for students who may not be involved in athletics or any other teams and created a space for them to belong and for brotherhood,” Tina Laury, PPW at Westlake, said.
The initiative is housed in select schools across Maryland with Westlake being one of the few high schools with the program. EBM of Westlake meet on a regular basis throughout the school year and collaborate with the initiative group held at Ryon. Last year Elite Black Men participated in team building exercises and outreach opportunities for the school system and the community.
Diamond Girls
Diamond Girls is a group for elementary-aged female students. Students at select schools in fourth and fifth grades learn from their peers and program mentors. “We have various activities and guest speakers to help keep the students engaged and motivated,” Sheryl Morrison, PPW at Indian Head, Mt. Hope/Nanjemoy and J.C. Parks elementary schools, said. The group meets monthly after school to assist with student achievement and social engagement. “We stay with the students until they graduate from the program and more to middle school,” Morrison said. “The middle school students can visit the group to help out in a Diamond Girls’ subgroup called Diamonds Return.” Morrison, along with other PPWs spearheaded the group a couple of years ago and will continue to facilitate a growth atmosphere among students with the group in the future.
About CCPS
Charles County Public Schools provides 27,598 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 37 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.
The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices. For inquiries, please contact Kathy Kiessling, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (students) or Nikial M. Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 Coordinator (employees/ adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.
CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).