Alyshia Boagni is one of the newer educators at Evangeline Elementary who took on the role of the upper elementary counselor. Prior to her new role, Boagni home schooled her own children for eight years.
A growing research, called Adverse Childhood Experiences is what motivated Boagni to go back to school and pursue a higher education in mental health counseling.
Within the past year, the ACE research has shown positive results and feedback from both children and their families. Although there's a lot of work to be done, Boagni says their goal is to bring counselors and teachers together to provide the best education.
The need for implementation of Ace was the high scores that proved Evangeline students were dealing with a lot of trauma outside of school. These traumas could include violence, neglect or abuse.
“I really took pause at the scores and numbers that we were seeing and wanted to know how we can help our students do better," said Alyshia Boagni.
