In the front row is Jocelynn and in back, from left, are Keana, Chris, Frank, Gina, Isaiah, Jaron and Joe of the Courtois family.

WARSAW — Gina Courtois can identify with some of the social and emotional struggles school students are facing because she faced similar struggles when growing up.

Courtois has been the social and emotional learning coordinator for Warsaw Community Schools since January 2018.

A 1996 graduate of Rochester High School who grew up in both Plymouth and Rochester, she went on to Indiana Wesleyan where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 2000. She then moved to Warsaw and became a kindergarten teacher at Leesburg Elementary where in that first year she split time between a kindergarten classroom and a fourth grade classroom.

Then for the next 17 years she taught kindergarten at Leesburg, Madison and Washington elementary schools before accepting her current position. Along that journey she also coached volleyball and was part of the RTI, or response to intervention, team and helped struggling students.

She recalled during her growing up years, “I was going to go into some kind of service work, helping others.” Courtois noted she did not have the advocates or support system many students did while she was in school. With that background, she believes it has helped her understand the struggles some students face today.

The social and emotional learning coordinator position was brand new when Courtois accepted the role. It was determined “we can’t keep doing the same thing, we need to get to the root of it and understand the reasons for those behaviors,” she said. Social and emotional needs have inhibited learning in the classroom and must be addressed, she added.

It is a different world today, even when compared to when Courtois was in school, heavily impacted by more and more technology, busier family lives and busier schedules.

She said her main priority is to work with the core teams in each building in the school corporation and train those teams to promote social and emotional learning. Part of that process involves five neuroscience lessons about the anatomy of the brain. For an example, there is power in taking a 90-second break when angry because emotions are contagious.

Discipline is now more student centered, she noted.

Students can sometimes be very stressed when they come to school and need to be taught their “sources of strength,” such as mentors, family support, positive friends and healthy activities. “We are equipping students to be the agents of change,” Courtois said.

Teachers need help to know what to do when students have emotional outbursts and the intent is to be more preventative instead of simply reacting to situations. But, Courtois emphasized, promoting social and emotional learning is not a separate time but is integrated into current learning as much as possible. This is important because, she said, teachers do not need “something else put on their plate.”

Creating safe environments for learning is crucial to “get a learning ready brain.” For one example, having students move around from time to time instead of just sitting in one place.

She is also very passionate about her work with Suicide Prevention, noting the day she was interviewed for her current position her brother tragically died by suicide. “We need to slow down and take a moment to notice the people around us, have a conversation and truly listen, building relationships with the people around us is so important!”

Courtois keeps busy with four kids at home and attending sporting events. Jocelynn is a kindergarten student at Washington STEM, Jaron is a sixth-grader at Washington, Isaiah is a sophomore at Warsaw Community High School and Keana is a senior at Grace College. Two stepchildren are in their late 20s and no longer live at home.

Gina is also working on her Master’s of Business Administration degree and travels to Terre Haute each weekend. As part of a dual program, she will also get her administration license.

Gina enjoys gardening, reading, being outside and family events. She is married to Frank Courtois, who works in court security for the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office, and the family lives in Warsaw and attends Warsaw Community Church.