Celebrating International Social Emotional Learning

The Urban Assembly and SEL4US has invited communities across the globe to celebrate social emotional learning (SEL) Day. The theme this year is "Building Bonds, Reimagining Community." Social emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital to succeeding in school, work, and life. SEL is a critical part of Sanneh’s learning curriculum. The Foundation recognizes the importance of relationship development for creating strong learning communities and nurturing successful students.

Sanneh’s social work interns, Isabella (Ms. Izzy) and Sheliah, have been hard at work teaching youth at the Distance Learning Hub at Conway Community Center about emotions. Ms. Izzy, Sheliah, and other staff have developed students’ social emotional competence through the use of “bug-out boxes.” Youths put any items that may help them calm down or control their emotions into their bug-out box. Some of these items include stress balls, slime, and mini-notebooks. While making these boxes, multiple youths informed the interns how their parents were proud and supportive of the bug-out box as a tool for emotional regulation. Multiple students report using their bug-out box at home or hope to use it when they return to in-person learning. Both interns are incredibly proud of the work that each participant has put into developing their emotions and are ecstatic with the progress each youth has made so far.

It is incredibly important for students to learn to cope with their emotions because it can assist in decreasing negative behaviors in and outside of the classroom. Teaching youth how to identify their emotions and practice coping techniques gives youth valuable information that they can continue to use throughout their lifetime. As the Distance Learning Hub and other branches of Sanneh’s learning community support students, we will continue to center social emotional learning because of its ability to increase students’ emotional intelligence and improve their academic performance.