By Beza Kifle
When I walked into Ms. Mehta’s office last Thursday to talk to her about the counselors’ new “minute meetings,” she told me that she had just sent out an email to students with free periods promoting a fifth-grade lunch buddy program. “I think it used to exist, and then it kind of collapsed, so we’re trying to make it happen again,” she told me.
To participate, you have to have a free period, and then do a training session on having appropriate conversations with 5th graders, which is pretty much common sense.
If only I had a free.
As for those new “minute meetings” the counselors did during school-wide drug testing, I asked Ms. Mehta when the counseling department decided to start them. She told me that at the end of last school year, she and the counselors set a goal to have a one-to-one conversation with every student.
Over the summer, Ms. Mehta attended a conference this summer where they learned how these meetings are “a great way to have an initial check-in,” she said.
After coming back, they had to work out the details of making the meeting happen. It was complicated. Drug testing provided a “way where every student has to come through those doors, so we just hopped on that,” she said.
During the meetings, they asked the same questions to every student. “They were intended to be broad enough that it wouldn’t be super awkward to answer in a room with a ton of people,” she told me. If anyone answered anything that was concerning or raised a red flag, they made a note of it so they could reach out to the student for a more sustained conversation.
Ms. Mehta told me that it was really fun to get to know everyone. Through their feedback, they were able to see patterns, such as when they asked students what three things were important to them. “We said three because we only had a couple minutes with every student, and the first three things that come to mind are kind of telling,” she told me. There were a lot of students who said friends, family, and something else. “We had some unique ones, so it was really interesting to see if somebody interpreted a question really differently,” she said.
Right now, the counselors don’t have any immediate plans to have another round of “minute meetings.” “Maybe we’ll do it at the start of next semester, but honestly probably not,” she said. They did miss all of the fall athletes because they had their drug tests before school started, so they are trying to figure out how to talk to more students next year.
While I was there, I decided to ask if there was anything else coming up for the counselors. Starting this week, the counselors have had their first ninth-grade lessons. Instead of having meetings with P.E. classes, they are splitting freshmen up into smaller groups. “There are some ninth graders that I won’t get to know because they’re not in my group, but the ones who are in my group, I’ll get to know better,” she told me.
Last week, the mental health liaisons also had their first meeting. She told me that they are going to get more members because “there’s a lot of interest I think with students on campus, like doing something proactive with mental health,” she said.
When our conversation was coming to a close, she asked me if they should do another round of minute meetings. I told her that it was interesting to have the time to take a second and reflect, and she remembered that some students told her that they thought it was a nice step to take.
Ms. Mehta told me that they might try to find a time at the start of next semester to do them again. “We’d have to figure out logistics, which is not easy to do. But, it was nice to check in with people in a low-stakes way,” she explained.
Since not everyone comes down to the counseling office, they don’t get to know everyone. “Our hope was that having an even two-minute conversation with someone could open our door a little more,” she said.
