DeVries is the CEO of Monarch School Project and resides in Scripps Ranch.
While working with children throughout my career, I have found that every stage of their lives is marked by behaviors unique to their development. Elementary school kids want to be ired for their individuality and crave love and acknowledgment. Middle school students want to be accepted by their friends. And high schoolers want to be adults and generally believe that boundaries are meant to be tested.
I believe these descriptions to be universal truths, and our kiddos at the Monarch School Project in Barrio Logan are not exceptions. However, all our students carry an extra, heavy burden: They’re living with the constant insecurity that defines the experience of homelessness.
Our environment does not allow it to define them.
What does it take to cultivate the unique gifts and academic success of students who are managing trauma every day? It takes a sense of belonging within a community and a belief in the possibility of growth and change, and importantly, it requires that the basic and urgent need for safety is consistently met within our learning environment.
When I first met one of our middle schoolers, a 13-year-old boy with beautifully curly hair and dark, furtive eyes, he showed all the signs of an avoidant and cautious child. After years of frequent mobility, unstable circumstances and harsh treatment by authority figures, he’d developed the kind of world wariness you expect to see in war veterans and others who’ve faced and overcome a lifetime of adversity.
He was in a constant “brace” position, waiting for the next bad thing to happen.
These inherent fears and self-preservation tactics are not uncommon when children arrive at Monarch. What we do provide are holistic resources that allow children to express themselves through arts, athletics and academics — nurturing their individual talents, along with a sense of belonging and healing. All children have a calm, neutral adult on our campus who they know they can turn to without judgment, and we have an active clinical behavioral health team on site at all times.
In a three-year, social-emotional learning study the Monarch School conducted with The Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education at the University of San Diego from 2016 to 2019, we found that 60 percent of our students maintained or increased their feelings of safety at our school.
Weeks after first meeting the curly haired, dark-eyed middle schooler, I walked out to our crowded playground on a sunny afternoon and noticed him sleeping deeply and peacefully in the middle of the chaos — a profound achievement.
I stood still, quietly tearing up at the sight of this child experiencing the kind of restful abandon that is only accessible to us when we know we are safe.
Some may think this is an odd measure of success, but this is a pure example of the type of safety we all need to move forward and thrive.
When children experiencing sustained trauma find calm and restoration within a community that is always ready to receive them, their capacity for resilience and self-actualization is limitless.
All schools should strive to be that community. All kids, at every stage of development, need to know they’re safe so they can achieve their potential, and grow, and sleep, peacefully.
