|
|
|
Buell Central High School social worker Olivia Benford sits Thursday in the library of the school. Benford works with students who have behavorial problems at the alternative school. |
While enjoying an unusual break in the beauty parlor five years ago, school social worker Olivia Benford had a mysterious note placed in her hand by one of the stylists.
"It said, ‘Do you remember me? You helped me with my medical problem.’ And I did remember her. I asked the girl why her friend didn’t come over herself, and she said the woman would be embarrassed if I didn’t remember her," Benford remembers.
The woman was working at the parlor as a beautician, but she had been a student at Buell Central High School, where Benford works to help students with behavioral problems and those simply moving at a slower pace than regular high schools allow for.
Years earlier, the woman had suffered from a cleft palate, a genetic deformity that a botched surgery had failed to correct in her childhood. After watching the girl endure endless teasing, Benford had located a foundation willing to pay for the girl’s surgery. The procedure was a success, and the girl went on to graduate and get married, eventually having children, before she ran into Benford at the beauty parlor.
"It was nice for me, because we don’t have too many successes in this business," Benford said.
While the success stories might be few and far between, Benford’s accomplishments were enough to earn her the "2005 School Social Worker of the Year" award at a banquet in Austin on Feb. 17. That day marked the first time a social worker from the Rio Grande Valley had earned the award, she said.
For the past 15 years, Benford has worked with the school district’s troubled students, who are sent to Buell on a temporary leave of absence from their regular schools due to disciplinary problems. Students caught with weapons or who have committed an aggravated assault will spend a year; students with gang affiliations or who are caught under the influence of drugs or alcohol will most likely spend around three months at the school.
"What I usually tell (the teachers) is treat the students with dignity and respect and they’ll respect you. Once you have that, they’re easier to work with," Benford said.
"They have barriers there since childhood, and we have to try and lower those barriers."
A self-described workaholic, Benford not only helps train the teachers, but counsels the students and their parents and runs the school’s social programs, including drug interventions and food and clothing drives for needy students.
She’s responsible for approximately 220 students at any one time, including those enrolled in the School of Options for mature students, the majority of whom will eventually return to their regular schools. But most will be back, she said.
"It’s a revolving door, unfortunately," she said.
"They go back to school and get into trouble and they’re back here … But I believe that everyone has good in them. You just have to try and bring it out of them."
|