Listening to Middle-Level Students' Voices on Border Violence: Lessons for Counselors and Educators

• In Event: 63.038 - Social Justice, Cultural Capital, and Diversity in School Counseling

Abstract

We examine middle level students’ self-reports of experiences with border violence in Brownsville and El Paso, TX near the Mexico border. Essays written as part of their participation in the national Do the Write Thing Challenge to Prevent Violence are analyzed using a framework of families as refugees. Students have witnessed or experienced murder, battery, extortion, robbery, and stabbings due to drug wars. Many are separated from family, friends, and support services, leading to sadness, fear for safety, difficulties concentrating in school and anger over disruptions in their lives. These experiences mirror many characteristics of refugee families. Implications are discussed for the importance of school counselors and educators understanding the mental health and academic needs of these children.

Authors

• Beverley Argus-Calvo, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Sarah E. Peterson, University of Texas at El Paso

• Rick Myer, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Jaime Mendoza, University of Texas at El Paso