Students at West New York’s Public School No. 1 are working together to help themselves and others cope with loss and divorce.
Through Rainbows Organization, a national organization with chapters in each state and other countries, students who have either lost a parent or loved one or who are living through a divorce or separation are forming their own peer support groups.
“It is kids helping kids,” said Peter Cosgrove, the coordinator of the program at Public School No. 1. “The kids talk about their problems with each other and help each other get through it.”
The program began three years ago as a pilot program in three of the district’s schools, including Public School No. 1. Now five of the district’s six elementary schools have the program.
According to Cosgrove, the program began three years ago with only 23 students. This year, the program served 49.
Some of the students in the program have lost a parent or a sibling or grandmother, but according to Cosgrove, most are from single-parent homes.
“The main thing we want the students to know is that they are not alone,” said Cosgrove.
Helping yourself and others
Rainbows Organization allows students to help each other by talking through their problems. The 16-week program puts students in groups of five or six. Each group also has one teacher facilitator who has been trained by the Rainbows Organization.
“It’s been helping me a lot just to talk to people,” said seventh grade student Jessica Cirri, who lost her father in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
“I’d rather talk about my feelings than write,” agreed Sean McCoy, a student who has been in the program for two years.
Cirri said that it has been helpful for Cirri to talk to the other students in the program.
“They already know what you are going through,” said Cirri about the other students in the program.
The students also know that what they say can also help the other members of their group.
“When I say something, I think that other people feel the same way,” said McCoy.
The teacher facilitator, who has been trained by the Rainbows Organization, also work with the students.
“My teacher showed me how to stop missing [my father] so much,” said third grade student Pedro Jimenez who lost his father last year.
“In most cases, if nothing else, these students now have a teacher that they can go to if they need to talk,” said Cosgrove. “Just the fact that they know there are people who care about them goes a long way.”
Celebrating me
At the end of the 16 weeks, the schools hold a ‘Celebrate Me’ Day. Each student is given a certificate and t-shirts.
“Each school holds their ‘Celebrate Me’ Day a little differently,” said Cosgrove. “But this is how we do it.”
For the students at Public School No. 1, Celebrate Me Day was a day out of school where the students enjoyed arts and crafts and other activities.
“This is the first time that the students are seeing the other kids that have the same problems,” said Cosgrove.
At then end of the day, each student at P.S. 1 wrote a letter to the person that they have lost. The letter was then buried in soil, where a flower was planted to symbolize hope.
“We want to make them feel a little better about themselves,” said Cosgrove.