At-Risk Student Counseling Program In VA Boosted With Federal Money
ALEXANDRIA, VA — A program that provides counseling support to at-risk students will be able to expand in Virginia with new federal funding.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who lives in Alexandria, provided a $977,000 check from Congress to Communities in Schools of Virginia on Friday. Warner met with site coordinators and students who participate in Communities in Schools at Alexandria City High School.
Communities in Schools is a nationwide organization that works with students who may need extra support to succeed in school and graduate. The Northern Virginia branch of the organization has worked with students in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax County schools.
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Peter Balas, the executive principal at Alexandria City High School, said the school’s partnership with Communities in Schools began four years ago with one coordinator. Because of the success of the program, the school now has four coordinators. Three coordinators — R.J. Carranza, Alec Paget and Danielle Chwirut — work at the high school’s King Street Campus. One other, Shreya Mohan, works at the Minnie Howard Campus.
“Our site coordinators played an integral role in fostering success of some of our most vulnerable students. In alignment with our school division strategic plans, we began a partnership with [Communities in Schools] to focus on our graduation rate, increasing that and reducing our dropout rate, especially related to our Hispanic population.”
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Along with providing academic and social-emotional supports during school, site coordinators with Communities in Schools engage students in after-school activities, including a popular soccer team at Alexandria’s high school.
One of the success stories shared during a roundtable with Warner is Alexandra Bustillos, a high school senior who came to the U.S. four years ago from Bolivia. Bustillos struggled during her first two years in school after moving to the U.S. and didn’t believe she had enough support to succeed.
Bustillo feels Communities in Schools provided the aid she needed. Her site coordinator has helped apply to college, and she will attend George Mason University in the fall.
“It was really stressful going through all these things myself, because I’m the first generation of my family going to a college in the United States,” Bustillo said. “I think it really taught me that they never leave. … It helped me a lot, and now I received a scholarship [from the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria].
Warner, a former Virginia governor who is now a U.S. senator, is no stranger to Communities in Schools. He teamed up with former Republican Gov. George Allen in 1999 to become founding co-chairs of Communities In Schools of Virginia.
Today, the Virginia organization works in over 100 schools. The federal funding makes another expansion possible to fund more staff to work with students.
“Seeing these counselors help these first-generation students not only navigate high school but also help them plan for college and what their future’s going to look like, it’s incredible,” Warner said. “I’m very proud that we were able to get $977,000 to go to Communities in Schools project that will allow us to get close to 14 additional counselors that can help literally hundreds and hundreds of additional students find their way to live out their own version of the American Dream.”
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