At Springville Junior High School, we have a new program. Hope Squad! The Hope Squad is for students that are having problems, or students that are struggling in their personal lives and need someone to talk to. Mrs. Courtney Droz, the ninth-grade counselor, said, “Most students feel more comfortable talking to their peers and not an adult.” The purpose of Hope Squad is so that students can have someone to talk to.
The Hope Squad program will be starting in about a month. The counselors of SJHS are hoping to have all of the information such as who will be in the Hope Squad and train the students selected to be apart of the Hope Squad by the end of September. The training is for the students to know how to tell who is looking sad all the time, or how to tell if they’re struggling without going up to them to ask them.
Students are excited about Hope Squad. Demmi Nava, an eighth grader, said, “A lot of times students don’t have someone to talk to. It’s nice to have someone to have someone there to listen.” Demmi thinks that it’s a really good idea. Lots of people get really frustrated, no one listening, and don’t even feel wanted. But this way, having Hope Squad, will hopefully change that. Students that are having struggles will feel wanted and people will listen to them. Another eighth grader, Sam Hall, agreed. The Hope Squad is there to help the SJHS students. If students are having struggles or problems, Hope Squad is there for them. Sam said, “It will help the school with advice from not just adults, counselors, but like students counselors. I think it will be affect how the school is in a good way.”
Mrs. Droz emphasized that “students on the Hope Squad will not be therapists, but rather trained to refer to an adult helper when a student is having a hard time.” SJHS is hoping that Hope Squad will be affecting other people in life, to make a change in people’s lives.