The highlight of North Campus Counselor Lauren Mitchell’s week is presenting the Caring Turkey award to Lower School students on Tuesday mornings. Each week, a student from each grade is recognized by her teachers or peers for demonstrating one of St. Mary’s Bridge to Caring character traits: respect, responsibility, thankfulness, kindness, self-control, honesty, courage, and cooperation.
"I love incorporating the Bridge to Caring into the counseling curriculum because it gives girls an opportunity to shine and also look for the best in others," she said. “Students leave chapel with the charge to not only live the traits in their daily lives, but how it's equally important to recognize and celebrate those traits in their peers.”
One of the traits that Mitchell enjoys teaching students about is kindness, especially the importance of self-kindness.
“While self-kindess may sound like an easy thing to do, in practice this takes skill and guidance,” Mitchell said. “It is imperative to model the importance of showing kindness to yourself by talking to yourself the same way you would talk to someone you love remembering that your thoughts impact how you feel and act.”
In our Early Childhood and Lower School classrooms, Mitchell teaches girls to forgive themselves when they make a mistake, use encouraging self-talk, and make time to manage their emotions.
Mitchell also encourages girls to flip the script.
“I love helping the girls discover how brave they are by teaching them to turn their ‘what ifs’ into ‘I wonders,’” Mitchell said. “If a student is feeling worried by an assignment or activity, I encourage the girls to flip their ‘what if’ I get it wrong into ‘I wonder’ what I will discover by trying and taking the first step.”
Mitchell has served as a school counselor for 17 years with three of those years at St. Mary’s. She received her bachelor’s in speech pathology from University of Tennessee and her master’s in school counseling from University of Memphis.
Girls go through so many changes physically, cognitively, and emotionally between the ages of 2 and 18. The counseling program at St. Mary’s helps each girl understand herself and the changes going on within and around her. Our goal is to help each girl reach her individual potential and equip her to be successful personally, academically, and professionally in the future.
- All-School
- Early Childhood
- Lower School