High school grieves loss
Just days after the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl who
attended San Benito High School as a freshman, the campus was
offering an array of grief counseling for students.
”
It’s been a couple of emotional days,
”
said Krystal Lomanto, principal of San Benito High School, on
Tuesday.
”
There have been a lot of tears and hugs.
”
The school’s actions came after the shooting of Genevieve
Destefanis early Saturday morning near Rancho San Justo Middle
School. The police arrested two juveniles, a 15-year-old suspected
of shooting and killing Destefanis and another 16-year-old accused
of being an accessory after the fact.
High school grieves loss
Just days after the shooting death of a 14-year-old girl who attended San Benito High School as a freshman, the campus was offering an array of grief counseling for students.
“It’s been a couple of emotional days,” said Krystal Lomanto, principal of San Benito High School, on Tuesday. “There have been a lot of tears and hugs.”
The school’s actions came after the shooting of Genevieve Destefanis early Saturday morning near Rancho San Justo Middle School. The police arrested two juveniles, a 15-year-old suspected of shooting and killing Destefanis and another 16-year-old accused of being an accessory after the fact.
As the court case is taking shape, high school students have spent the last few days trying to move forward with the help of grief support and counseling.
The grief support will last all week, as counselors will leave their doors open to group counseling, Lomanto said. Students who need counseling will receive it in a group setting with other students. Students also can get individual counseling if needed.
“We hope the students can support each other as well,” she said.
The grieving process started early Monday, when Lomanto and counselor Andrew Prisco visited each classroom where Destefanis was enrolled, Lomanto said. Otherwise, school officials have targeted the group of students and teachers that would be most affected by the death.
Classroom visits additionally were used as a tool to help the teachers with their own grief, she said.
“It also affects our teachers,” Lomanto said. “It’s a lot easier for them if I address the classroom first.”
As part of a grief plan, the school has set up a large card outside for students to sign. Also, those partaking in the grief counseling have created a poster in remembrance of Destefanis.
Seven staff members have helped students through the grieving process, including all four counselors and the school psychiatrist, Lomanto said.
The school called on parents for help in asking for their support, too, Lomanto said. After the school sent a message Monday afternoon to all students’ families, it received many letters, e-mails and calls from parents asking what they could do.
“They have really responded,” Lomanto said.
Coinciding with the grief counseling, the school is celebrating a long-planned “Kindness Matters Week” that challenges students to hug three people, smile at an unknown person, tell someone how you feel about them and “swallow your pride,” Lomanto said. And the week, planned by students earlier in the year after an anti-bullying assembly, has acted as a way for students to grieve.
“It was a complete accident – it was planned months ago – but it’s helped with the grief process,” she said.
