Communities in Schools (also known as CIS) is a national nonprofit that helps students succeed in school and in life. Students can go there if they need help or need to feel safe.
Students go to CIS for a variety of reasons.
“So a lot of my students report that they feel safe in the CIS office. They feel like someone cares about them in the CIS office. They value the relationship that they build with the adults and the other students in CIS. So we believe that relationships are really important to helping people feel good and feel connected and if you are feeling good and feeling connected then chances are you will do better in school,” said Lindsey Knowles, a social worker for CIS.
Students report that going to CIS helps them.
7th grader Mathew Bernal Cepeda Rodriguez reports that being a part of CIS helps him with his learning.
Kids go to CIS for multiple reasons.
Bernal Cepeda Rodriguez goes to CIS “because they are really funny and great and because they have a bunch of my friends in CIS.”
Students do a variety of things in the CIS room.
“So we will meet the students in groups or 1 on 1 to set goals with them and get to know them better and to help them better in school and in life so that might look like doing arts and crafts together or playing games or sometimes just talking,” said Knowles.
When asked why she does what she does, Knowles responded that she likes protecting and supporting her students.
“Because I really like working with the students in middle school so between the ages of 11 and like 15 I think it’s a really interesting to know someone cause you guys are going through so much changes and you really between being little pain and being teenager and I just think that you are just really you deserve to be protected and supported and respected and I think that I really enjoyed meeting with students and that why im here,” said Knowles.
Knowles enjoys the challenge of working with the more difficult students.
“One of my favorite challenges is getting to know so many different kinds of people. Some students are really easy to talk to right away so sometimes it is more rewarding to gradually and slowly build a relationship with someone who is hesitant or closed off at first because it just can feel like a big win when they learn to trust you and work with you so sometimes I kind of prefer students that are harder to work with meaning like they don’t open up as quickly or they are not as trusting because i really like watching them transform over time once we get to know each other because it is a really special feeling,” said Knowles.
