Kids help each other through peer program

HELPING OUT- Los Cerritos Middle School sixth-grader Megan Soller, 12, left, listens to her fellow students as she helps them with their homework during peer mentoring at the school. The program appears to be a win-win for both the providers and the recipients. Every day a group of about 35 middle school students come to a very special class. Sandwiched between science and English, a select bunch of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders meet to learn how to help their struggling peers.

Los Cerritos' Peer Service and Support Team (PSST) program is different from peer counseling at other schools: It's a designated yearlong elective course during which students are trained to become peer academic coaches.

"They are trained in mediation techniques and taught the importance of empathy," said PSST teacher Karen Greenberg. "We want students who understand that everyone's different but no one's better than anyone else. There are different values in life, and even when kids need help they are still the same as they are."

Any student interested in the program, which has been offered at the school for the last five years, completes a written application and goes through an interview process.

"The kids that become coaches are usually recommended by their counselors or teachers," Greenberg said. "In their interviews we give them situations and ask how they would handle it, which is very important."

Chase Rosenberg, a sixthgrader, coaches two students- one once a week and one twice a week.

"I heard about it and I just thought, 'Wow, that's really great,'" Chase said. "We just get together and help people in our school who are struggling. They learn selforganization and selfmotivation."

The class meets every day, and the coaches meet with their peers once or twice a week during the school's silent reading period.

"We don't really tutor; we just help with their study habits and help them stay organized so they achieve more in their classes," said Jordan Hobmann, an eighth-grader. "Lots of kids aren't doing well because they aren't doing their homework. And many are not as much not doing it as they are losing it. It's about organization and making school easier for them."