St. Vincent de Paul students keep a clear picture of who they are

Friday, Jun. 19, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — This year has been very rewarding for the students at Saint Vincent de Paul School who participated in the Hearts at Peace II Program. Activities and lesson plans were centered around the Alice in Wonderland theme “Through the Looking Glass.”  

Last school year during the Hearts at Peace I program, students focused on having a Heart at Peace toward others. This year, Corrine Johnson, social worker from Holy Cross Ministries and counselor at Saint Vincent School, decided to focus on having students develop a “Heart at Peace” toward themselves.  

The year began with a brief review of last year’s curriculum and then used clips from Alice in Wonderland to teach life skills such as time management, communication, peer refusal skills, and good study habits. Masters of Social Work interns from the University of Utah created and taught class presentations targeted toward self-esteem to include positive self-talk, kindness towards self and others, stress management and body image.  

 A large mirror (looking glass) was hung in the school hall to accompany lessons that taught students about keeping a clear picture of who they are, even when others are unkind. Each student completed their own mirror with a positive affirmation about themselves.  

“I’ve seen some of the toughest students get emotional during videos that we showed on kindness and empathy,” said Fernanda Martins-Nguyen, one of the interns. “I definitely saw the power that we had in making someone’s day brighter, and these lessons were a great reminder of how we have the power to make a meaningful change in our community.”  

The last activity of the year was to challenge the students to create an Affirmation Chain. Each student wrote words of affirmation to themselves, starting with “I Am,” “I Believe” or “I Can.”  All student chains were linked together creating a long chain that spanned the school hallway. 

Leslie Jensen, another of the interns, summed up the program by saying, “The Hearts at Peace Program II allowed students to grow and develop. I was able to see students facing difficult situations overcome major issues and grow and develop. I loved this curriculum and being able to be a part of such a great school.”