I want to send out a warm welcome to The Shore Center friends and family! My name is Mrs. Lisa Smith and I am the School Counselor and Vocational Coordinator at The Shore Center.  I am proud to announce that I am entering my fifth year and could not be more happy, joyful and lucky to continue working with the students, staff and families. A little about me. My passion for working in education started over two decades ago. When I was a little girl, I would go to my mother's school, sit in her teaching chair and watch her stand in front of the classroom and educate children. I observed her enthusiasm, passion, dedication and the RESPONCE she received from her students. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to work with children. I followed my dreams and have been working with young adolescents for over seventeen years in various environments; starting off as a substitute teacher in my mother's school, a Gymnastics and Cheerleading Coach, Camp Counselor, Reading Tutor, Part-time School Counselor for grades K-8, currently a part-time Behavior Therapist for a Social Skills center, and have completed my School Counseling fieldwork hours in both Elementary and High School. I graduated from Kean University in 2017 with my Masters in School Counseling K-12, and have landed my dream job here at The Shore Center. My role as the School Counselor and Vocational Coordinator: I have the privilege to work with every single student. I visit the classrooms every week and provide them with a SEL lesson using the ReThink Ed program. A little bit about the RedThink Ed program: ReThink Ed provides 120 Social Emotional Learning lessons that break down and target skills to enable developmentally appropriate scaffolding of student learning. Each lesson allows students to learn, practice, and dive deeper. Students are introduced to basic content items, ideas, and conceptual definitions through engaging videos, activities and discussions. Students practice by directly engaging with the skills and strategies through practice with peers, and dive deeper into the lesson by applying the skills and strategies learned through activities,  games, and reflection. The students have completed 30 weeks of lessons in the 2022-2023 school year :) In addition to teaching SEL lessons to the classrooms, I work with my individual and small group counseling caseload. My role as the Vocational Coordinator allows me to connect with our local community and educate them on our job sampling program, allowing for student opportunities to job sample at various locations. Some new sites that I have for this school year are: Applebees, Barlows, Barnes & Noble, Bubbakoos, DSW, Fulfill Food Bank, Giannis Pizzeria, Old Navy, St. Peters Church, TGIFridays, Battleview Orachard, and Staples. Students work on life skills and social skills while job sampling in the community to best prepare them for life after The Shore Center. In my free time I love to spend time with my family, go on road trips, hike, camp, go to the beach and hang out with my furry friend Barry. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me : Lsmith@theshorecenter.org

I am looking forward to a wonderful 2023-2024 school year !

Smiles,

Lisa Smith