Meet Ms. Brooks! Ms. Brooks is our 8th grade counselor at Pine Mountain. She also serves as our lead counselor and oversees our work with students in what we call MTSS (multi tiered system of support), and facilitates our Sources of Strength campaign.

As the the 8th grade counselor, Ms. Brooks helps prepare our kids for high school success by setting up opportunities for kids to learn about and register for high school classes. She coordinates magnet school sessions for parents and kids to learn about the options our kids have to attend various magnet high schools within our district. From scholarship opportunities to information about programs, she is here to help families and kids prepare for a smooth transition to high school.

As our MTSS coordination, Ms. Brooks helps to ensure our kids have all the support we can provide them to be successful at school. According to PBIS Rewards, MTSS helps schools to identify struggling students early so that they may receive assistance quickly. Through her work with MTSS, Ms. Brooks takes a proactive approach to identifying students with academic or behavioral needs through early assessment and intervention for these students so that they can catch up with their peers sooner.

In her work with Sources of Strength, she facilitates a comprehensive wellness program that focuses on suicide prevention but also impacts other issues like substance abuse and violence. Sources of Strength uses teams of Peer Leaders mentored by Adult Advisors to change peer social norms about help seeking and encourages students to individually assess and develop strengths in their life. The program promotes and focuses on connectivity, school bonding, peer-adult partnerships, and help seeking behaviors. Due to Ms. Brooks initiative, our school received $6,500 in funds to be used specifically to help her implement this program for our students.

The leadership that Ms. Brooks brings to our campus is making a difference. Her work exemplifies our school motto of "Never Stop CLIMBing"!