Laura Lowery’s classroom is filled with light. Positive messages are scattered across the wall encouraging students in all her classes. While she teaches Human Geography and psychology, Lowery is also the advisor of the peer counseling club. Peer counselors decided to expand its outreach by adding a new military teen group.

“Every year we do a survey among our peer counselors about issues that students want to talk about. One of the new groups we added was the Military teens group,” senior and president of Peer Counseling Miles Tobitt said.

Lowery feels Peer Counseling is of great importance as everyone needs a safe space. Bonita Vista High (BVH) Programs provide safety and comfort to all students. Additionally, the club is all about working through problems as a group in a relaxed and safe environment. 

“It’s a great program that offers students a safe place to talk and open up about things they might not feel comfortable talking about with their friends and family. It provides a non-judgemental meeting and it gives students a chance to connect with other people who might be going through similar things,” Lowery said.

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The Peer Counseling program has gained counselors in the past few years, even if it has moved from a class to a club. Though becoming a counselor requires a rigorous training and certification process, it shows the commitment of peer counselors. Peer Counseling is always looking to evolve with the school and fill the need for Peer Counselors.

“I’ve put in around 60 hours of training to become a peer counselor. I believe we have 30 [counselors] whereas last year we had six,” Tobitt said. 

Peer counselors are pursuing their interest in the field and in their future aspirations. Their primary goal is to help people with whatever they’re dealing with and they want the community to feel supported by them.

“A lot of counselors join because they are very passionate about helping people as I am. It’s a great club. It’s a very welcoming environment. Overall we just have a great group of counselors who are very passionate about helping people,” Tobbit said.

The students they help come with a diverse set of concerns such as, LGBTQ+ issues or Self-Acceptance and Relationship goals. There are many resources available to students including individual meetings or group meetings. These programs are critical to some students and in many cases the meetings prove to be positive for everyone involved. 

“People usually sign up for [support groups] because they understand that talking to people and opening up about these things is very important in terms of getting through hardships. Pretty much everybody who has ever been in peer counseling has told us how much the program has helped them,” Tobbit said.

Peer Counseling offers a welcoming group for peer counselors like Junior Sarai Kelly who will be in charge of the group and is in a military family herself . She joined to help people who were in similar situations she is in, which they have to change schools often. 

“I feel like having a whole group of other people who are also in a military family helps build connections. I know people that have had to switch schools every other week. So [the Military Teens group is] helping them adjust to new schools. It gives them comfort that they’re not alone and other people have had to deal with that as well,” Kelly said.

There is also a psychological effect to moving around so much especially in the stage of life that many BVH students are in. Tobbitt explains that high school is a time to meet new friends and expand students’ social network.  

“Besides the obvious difficulty of moving and losing many connections and friends one has, moving so frequently is tougher than people may imagine,” Tobitt elaborates. “With humans being very social creatures, we all find comfort and support in these group environments.” 

Peer counseling hopes to further expand its services to become an even more meaningful part of the BVH community. They aim to build a stronger, compassionate and meaningful experience with this new military support group. Kelly offers a unique and final perspective on the issue. 

“Most of my friends’ parents aren’t [in the] military so I feel like they don’t get the struggles of having one of their family members leaving for months. I’m hoping to get to know more people in that military family,” Kelly said.