Chapel Hill ISD: Prepare WELL. Plan WELL. Live WELL

On Wednesday, October 12, 2022, students, faculty, staff, families and community members gathered to celebrate the grand opening of the new 6-12 student services hub at Chapel Hill ISD. The WELL is a resource designed to facilitate student services, cultivate student potential and assist students and families with navigating the future. It is a new approach designed to promote academic WELLness. “It is exciting to have a new system that provides resources to meet the needs of all of our students in one central location. Helping students and families feel supported as they negotiate the rigors of high school is a priority at The WELL,” said Matt Dunn, high school principal. “Students in junior high school will benefit from the guidance and WELL activities that promote academic and individual WELLness. This means that students will transition from junior high to high school more fully prepared to begin to plan for their post secondary goals,” added Chris McClure, junior high school principal. The school counselor, academic advisor, academic deans and communities in schools personnel are housed in The WELL. The WELL staff collaborates together to provide assistance with student achievement; instructional support; drop-out prevention; counseling; graduation; college, career, and military readiness. Located in the JH/HS Library, at the heart of the campus, The WELL is a one stop shop for all, focusing on accessibility of resources, assistance and guidance. This unique approach to the delivery of student and family support is born out of the passion that Chapel Hill ISD has for individual student success.

In addition to serving students, The WELL is also dedicated to developing student leaders. As part of the mission to grow students, The WELL Student Advisory Council serves as a guiding force in planning the WELL calendar and activities. Representatives from each grade level meet monthly with The WELL staff and administrators to organize activities and speak on behalf of classmates regarding needs, challenges and emerging trends facing today’s youth as they work toward Academic WELLness and graduation.

Discussions about the desire to offer a state-of-the-art student services hub began during the 2021-2022 school year. The Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, the district administrators and student services personnel began taking that dream and making it into a reality for the 20222023 school year. Daniel Pritchett, CHISD Superintendent commented, “For many a student, approaching an adult for help is nerve-racking. In reality, a student may work up the nerve to ask for help just once. The typical structure of school means that staff have multiple duties that may occupy their time, causing him or her to be out of the office. The concept of the WELL intrigued me because its incorporation has allowed Chapel Hill ISD to have staff on hand and available whenever a student does request help. This approach allows us to be proactive and have staff available and prevent a child from slipping through the cracks, when he or she does request help.”

The WELL doors opened August 18th and each day has been filled with class meetings and individual meetings to work on post-secondary goals, college and technical school visits, PSAT and TSI testing, consults with the Texas Workforce Solutions, new student luncheons, military visits, Early College Academy and dual credit registration, FAFSA workshops, Apply Texas Day and much much more. The WELL Staff includes Christina Reid, Dana Thrapp, Kaci Bynum, John Kaiser, Tatiana Esslinger and Julie Levesque. Christian Reid, Director of Special Services noted, “The implementation of The WELL is a progressive extension of our longstanding mission and vision here at Chapel Hill ISD. We firmly believe that in order to have high-quality educational programming we must individualize the services and support provided to each student. For many years we have embraced the belief statement of ‘Where Everybody is Somebody’. The operational structure of The WELL allows us to holistically address the emotional, physical, and social needs of students while concurrently addressing their academic achievement. We believe that this holistic approach to serving students through team collaboration will give us the opportunity to actively teach self-advocacy, resulting in students who are more college ready, work ready, and life ready.” If you are on the Chapel Hill ISD campus, we hope you will stop by and visit and see the hustle and bustle of The WELL staff helping students “Prepare WELL. Plan WELL. And Live WELL.”