COUNSELOR AIMS FOR YOUTH DRUG PREVENTION

Michelle D'Agostino had just completed her master's degree in New
Hampshire when she decided she needed a change of scenery.

A former college runner who still hits the road, she was on leave from
teaching middle school biology in Maine while earning her master's.
But instead of going back to her job, she chose to come to Eugene, in
part because of its reputation as a running community and the legacy
of Steve Prefontaine.

That was in July, and a month later she was the new counselor for the
United Way-funded Student Assistance Program, a drug abuse prevention
and early intervention program that operates out of Kelly and Shasta
middle schools.

"It's a big shift, but I was very excited in the beginning to take
this position," she says of her transition from East Coast biology
teacher to West Coast counselor.

The Student Assistance Program works in cooperation with teachers and
school administrators to improve student behavior and academic
performance. It began as a program for adolescents with family
histories of drug abuse, but has evolved into a resource for all kids
facing a host of problems that could lead to substance abuse.

Shasta went without a counselor for one year due to budget cuts, but
this year the program was able to hire D'Agostino after a grant from
the PacificSource Charitable Foundation added to the $44,000 in United
Way money.

Since August, she has been working to meet as many students as she can
and make herself visible as a resource to any student who needs extra
one-on-one attention. She circulates during lunch periods, striking up
conversations, shooting hoops and playing with students in Shasta's
newly opened game room.

Caroline Dunn is the Student Assistance Program's supervisor and has
more than 20 years experience in youth drug prevention.

"To have a private place to talk is so important," Dunn says. Part of
making that private place accessible to students is the counselor's
approach. "Michelle has an easy, youthful way about her. I think
that's an advantage."

In addition to running track for Princeton University, and after
getting her master's degree in education, D'Agostino, 29, started the
first professional football league for women in Maine, where she
played wide receiver and kicker on one of its teams.

D'Agostino says her background in sports helps her relate to
students.

"If you are lazy in athletics, you will make mistakes," is what she
tells the middle schoolers. It's the same with homework, she says.
"They already have the strategies ingrained in them, they just don't
know it."

When she had a classroom full of students in Maine, she knew some
could have used one-on-one time, but she couldn't give it to them. She
sees the same frustration in teachers at Kelly and Shasta, between
which she splits her time evenly.

Teachers at both schools have helped her do a better job, she says, by
providing insights about various students and their needs.

Now she can give that personal attention to between 15 and 20 students
a day. She pulls them from class, or they come to her room for
appointments. At Shasta, Room 17 is her domain and she has plastered
its walls with inspirational quotes and a few science posters, and
mini basketball hoops top her waste baskets.

"Basically they need someone who cares who will listen to them,"
D'Agostino says, squeezing a foam toy shaped like a brain. They need
to "set goals and go after them."

D'Agostino joins a program with a more than two-decade long track
record of success. According to materials provided by the program, 93
percent of participants reported it helped with their problems. Eighty
percent had an increase in self-esteem; 71 percent decreased, or
remained abstinent in, their alcohol use; and for 75 percent, their
grades went up.

"I can see that we are really making a difference," says Ann-Marie
Bilderback, executive director of Prevention and Recovery Northwest,
which administers the program and pays D'Agostino's salary. "In an
ideal world there would be programs like this in every school."

As far as Bilderback knows, Kelly and Shasta are the only schools with
a staff person dedicated to addressing students' emotional needs and
intervening before they turn to drugs.

Depression, peer problems, chaos at home, low self-esteem and grief
can all lead a young person to drug use if they don't develop better
coping skills, say program staff members. The key is to build
relationships with kids so they turn to trusted adults during times of
personal crisis instead of alternatives such as drugs, cutting
themselves or suicide.

"If you're right there when it's happening, then it could make a big
difference," Dunn says. "If you can get there before their addiction
starts, it's much better. ... This isn't treatment, it's crisis
intervention."

D'Agostino says she wants to start leading support groups and training
peer mediators while continuing to help students make and reach goals.

"I help the kids discover within themselves that they have the ability
to have a positive influence on their environment," she says. "They
can learn to manage their power appropriately. I want to help them do
it for themselves."