This article is written by Director of Elementary Student Services Korleen Cosgrove. She describes Brilla’s intentionality around holistic education in a pandemic year.
I’ve been working at Brilla for the last six years, and it has been quite the honor to work here. It is a privilege to work at a place that aligns so closely with my own personal values and way of thinking. Prior to working here, I knew that honoring each person’s dignity and teaching with love were going to be important components of my career in education. I did not know that I would learn to be so explicit about these values in my daily work at Brilla.
Lots of schools tout things like “holistic well-being” and “care for the whole child.” But at Brilla, we live these words every day. It starts at the top– like the Executive Director of the organization dropping off a RAK (random act of kindness) at a staff’s building one week into a school shutdown due to the pandemic. Care for the person is shown in everyday interactions at Brilla– from the principal joyfully greeting each child at the door each morning, to the teachers who make YouTube science videos to engage students, to families who invite teachers out to their restaurants for special desserts and appetizers. Evidence of both uplifting the dignity of each person you encounter and love is infused at every turn.
The past year and a half has been difficult for everyone. Individual leaders, grade level teams, everyone at Brilla really, have responded to each challenge by doubling down on our commitment to the holistic well-being of our entire community. We engaged with Maria Droste Counseling service to provide 98 hours of grief counseling to students, staff, and families. We prioritized deepening staff knowledge and access to well-being throughout last summer’s onboarding and throughout the year, with coping and stress management skills, community building via Brilla Bunch, and structured opportunities to respond to current events such as Listening Circles. Part way through the year, we adjusted our schedule to include an asynchronous Wednesday to support our staff through the many demands of hybrid and remote teaching.
For students, we continued our strong commitment to daily Morning Meeting and Character Initiatives. Morning Meeting and Advisory–its Middle School counterpartoffer students a daily time to build classroom community, share reflections, and ground themselves in preparation for the day. Character Initiatives focuses on teaching students the core virtues alongside crucial social-emotional skills, such as identifying feelings and coping strategies. We will build on this commitment to student well-being by ensuring two full time social workers in all fully grown schools next year. We continue to provide our staff with training on a trauma-sensitive approach, Love & Logic, having hard conversations with students, Tier 2 and 3 Behavior Interventions, and more — all in service of ensuring our staff is equipped to support students individually and collectively. For families, we continued to provide support with access to a multitude of services and supports related to immigration, health care, and mental wellness and more across our community.
Because this work is so ingrained in all that we do, at times it’s easy to forget how holistically impactful it is. As our 8th graders prepare to graduate, I have been reminded time and time again of the long term impact of caring for the whole person. Our 8th graders will be attending an array of impressive high schools, but I am even more proud of the fact that they are well-spoken, thoughtful, and supportive of each other. Their comments such as, “I grew in mercy by not roasting people when they get me mad,” or “I grew in perseverance because I used to give up on everything I thought was hard… I do more work now and show I can finish it for a better grade,” show how they have grown. I am infinitely proud of their progress and the work that the Brilla team has done. Holistic development is at the heart of what we do here. It’s a long term investment, but the dividends are beautiful.
About the author: Korleen Cosgrove is Director of Elementary Student Services for the Brilla Schools Network. She joined the Brilla team in 2015 as a Learning Specialist. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with a concentration in Dual Childhood/Special Education from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY, and a Master’s Degree in Special Education, Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Severe/ Multiple Disabilities from Teachers College, Columbia University. Originally from Buffalo, NY, she loves wings and the Buffalo Bills, and enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.
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