New Colfax Elementary counselor working on “common language” with all students
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Brenda Brewer, the new Colfax Elementary school counselor, believes she has landed in the right place.
“I love it here in Colfax,” Brewer told the Colfax Board of Education during the October 24 meeting.
The Colfax school board approved hiring Brewer as the elementary counselor at the August meeting.
Brewer has been working in education for 16 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from UW-La Crosse, and then after receiving encouragement from her husband, eventually went back to school at UW-Stout for school counseling.
Brewer, a native of Randolph, said she stayed home for 12 years with her five children, who range in age from 23 to third grade. She and her family live near Jake’s Supper Club, and she says she very much appreciates the short commute to Colfax.
Polly Rudi, the Colfax school district’s special education and pupil services director, introduced Brewer to the Board of Education after Rudi’s report to the board in which she emphasized the school district’s commitment to the mental health of students.
“The staff has been so welcoming and so kind and supportive … and the kids are well behaved,” Brewer said.
The comment about the students being well behaved was in reference to a comment Trevor Hovde, Colfax Elementary principal, had made earlier in the meeting. The contractor installing new playground equipment at Colfax told Hovde that the Colfax students were well behaved and respectful and that he generally has much more difficulty installing playground equipment.
Brewer noted the Colfax School District’s TEAM strategy (Together Each Accomplishes More) and pointed out that “many awesome things are happening at Colfax.”
One of Brewer’s goals is to develop a “common language” pertaining to social and emotional intelligence for students at Colfax Elementary.
To help develop the common language, Brewer has introduced new curriculum to the elementary school.
One curriculum deals with students using colors to express and interpret how someone is feeling, such as yellow correlating with someone feeling nervous and red as expressing anger, Brewer said.
“Students need social-emotional intelligence to be successful and well-rounded,” she said.
Another curriculum is called Character Strong and focuses on expected behavior and rewarding behavior.
The focus for September was on respect, and the focus for October has been responsibility, Brewer said, noting that she has introduced a “character education” assembly for students on the last Friday of the month.
One school board member commented on Brewer’s work with all of the elementary students and pointed out that when most people think of a school counselor, they think of someone who only works with students suffering a crisis.
Brewer said she does work with students in crisis, but that she also works with all of the students in the school to help develop their social-emotional intelligence and to increase their resiliency.