Late Childhood to Adolescence is a transition period for students wherein they want to fit in and at the same time express their individuality. Non-conforming to parental standards, plus creating cliques, it’s also phase in which they experience problems, different ranges of emotions and inner angsts as well. Though, they have their peers around them who can give them a shoulder to cry on (deep inside them, even if they don’t admit it) they need a parental figure who would understand them, a lending ear to hear them out and guide them to the right path.
Being aware of this, the Guidance Services’ Counseling and Psychological Services (C.A.P.S.) of Southville International School and Colleges opens a Sponsorship Program, a Para-Counseling to all Basic Education & IB students. The Sponsorship Program aids students who are studying in Southville for that academic year, and aims to acquire the necessary skills to succeed.
The Goals of the Sponsorship Program are to help students attain their maximum potential in their academic and co-curricular performance in school & to further strengthen their support system so as a helping relationship may be established. Teachers and Counselors are usually the people that students look up to, for assistance, like their second parent in school…but aside from them, a sponsor assigned to a student may also be an officer or a member of the school community.
A Sponsor assumes the role of a friend, a coach, a caregiver or a guide and becomes an ardent supporter of the student’s accomplishments. He or She is a constant encourager in good and bad times, thus, a valuable agent of a student’s further growth and development. A Sponsor and a “Sponsoree” (student) will get together through a Sponsorship Meeting, a moment for the students to talk about their joys, achievements, express their worries, disappointments and anxieties about growing up, etc. Through this Sponsorship Chats it will focus on how to help students cultivate correct values and habits in studying well.
So how do Sponsorship Meetings work?
Frequency of meetings between Sponsor and “Sponsoree” are expected to meet at least three times a year or once every term, which lasts usually for 30 minutes. Sponsors may request for pull-out whenever necessary (e.g. “Sponsoree” is in urgent need of counseling; when the counselor is out; or, in extreme circumstances such as involvement in major disciplinary cases) w/ the approval of the Principals.
Topics usually discussed in a Sponsorship Session are study habits, values and virtues needed by the students, practice of the value of the week, practice of good manners and social graces and interpersonal relationships.
For more information or inquiries about the said program, you may coordinate with Ms. Nikki Sta. Cruz (Sponsorship Coordinator of Basic Ed.) or with Ms. Russel M. Baja (CAPS Basic Ed. Acting Coordinator) of the C.A.P.S. office.
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