Team Eckstein is an outreach and advocacy program created by the Eckstein Counseling Department designed to support the social/emotional/psychological needs of incoming 6th grade students in a fun format of games, social activities and cross-grade level friendships as they transition to middle school and to support 7th/8th grade students as they develop more mature mentoring and leadership responsibilities and roles.
WHY DO WE DO IT?
To help students develop pro-social skills
Feel a part of a community
Alleviate school social anxiety
Promote relationships/friendships
Helping students’ transitions
Develop leadership skills
Encourage empathy
Encourage cross grade level cooperation and understanding
Discouraging a climate of bullying
Helping students feel a sense of belonging
Appreciating differences across grade levels
Promote positive and fun interaction
Promoting positive character development and caring values
Teaching the navigation/survival skills of middle school
Promoting self awareness and self worth
HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?
Grade level counselors present the program during homeroom orientation visits to all three grade levels. 7th and 8th graders can volunteer to be Senior team members (with references) and 6th graders can be Junior team members. Direct recruitment in homerooms as well as teacher/parent recommendations are taken into consideration. The program is completely voluntary.
6th, 7th and 8th graders applicants would then be invited to participate and required to obtain parental permission. The counselors are responsible for reviewing the applications, selecting the participants and pairing Senior team members with Junior team members. They would always be same sex matches, taking into consideration common interests, lunch periods and homeroom availability. The program spans the entire school year..
The Senior team members will be trained in basic relationship and mentoring skills and in helping to meet the needs of the junior team members as shared in the junior team orientation meeting.
Once Team Eckstein has begun, the team members meet weekly in either supervised activities with their teammate and are strongly encouraged to develop their friendship outside of that meeting to include opportunities for interaction at school and outside of school hours.
These Team Meetings take place during homeroom in the Cafeteria. Our numbers will be limited to 30 Senior members and 30 Junior members, Snacks will be provided.
There will be additional full team after school activities throughout the year to keep the program fresh and fun.
