As young students continue building their social skills and emotional awareness, an elementary school counselor has equipped them with the tools to do so.

Thanks to a grant program funded by Princeton ISD, Lacy Elementary School Counselor Cindy Smith is investing in resources to assist students with their social-emotional learning.

Smith said she first applied for the grant totaling $923.23 while she was a second-grade teacher in the district knowing she would be assuming her current position of school counselor at Lacy Elementary. Among the items she requested were stress balls, an indoor movement space on campus and books to bolster the social and emotional awareness in students.

The grant not only funded items Smith says are necessary, but will provide resources to each and every classroom at Lacy Elementary.

“I thought it was amazing that they were putting emphasis on social-emotional well-being,” Smith said. “There was nothing academic about this grant.”

Despite the grant not being used for textbooks or an addition to a classroom, the counselor said, the social-emotional well-being of students plays a role in helping them learn and be well in school. She likens it to a solid foundation for learning.

“You’ve got to have kids that are socially and emotionally well and able to relate to each other,” Smith said. “I was super thankful that PISD recognized the need for it and funded it.”

For the full story, see the Sept. 8 issue of The Princeton Herald.