Macomb Today

The Richmond Community Schools District discussed the benefits of student advocacy at its March board meeting.

Dawn Makar, director of student support services in the district, leads the support programs for the district and introduced student advocate, Adriana Retman.

The programs provide an additional level of support, helping students achieve academic goals and cultivate appropriate student behavior.

Overall, Makar said students have been pretty receptive to the culture and relationship building exercises, despite some initial fears about being uncomfortable with the activities. She said that Retman is doing a great job building relationships with the students but also between the students in each grade and building, which helps in the behavior of all of the students.

Retman walked the board through some of the character traits and behaviors that she worked with in classrooms, showing the different aims for various grade levels.

“We wanted to kind of get kids to start thinking about how they treat each other, to be respectful and what happens when you might feel like you're excluded,” said Retman. “I can't think that anybody would ever want a child to come into one of our schools and think they're not accepted and that they don't belong. So, we were trying to look at how the effects of inclusion and what that might feel like to a student that doesn't have students coming up to them and saying hi.”

In elementary school, she read a story with the students, and then asked them to draw or write about something they were grateful for. They added these papers to the gratitude jar, which the teacher would go through over the next few weeks. The purpose of the activity was to encourage thankfulness in the young students.

At the middle school grade level, Retman conducted a team building activity where students complimented one another to find things that they had in common with peers. At the high school, they also did an activity finding common ground with each other through a conceptual business that utilized the strengths and interests of the members of their random groups.

Academic and social, as well as emotional support are the two main pillars that student advocates focus on.