By Alexis Coore 20'
This past decade has brought with it a heightened awareness of mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, with recent movements such as The Movement for Global Mental Health and the National Alliance on Mental Health. In a valiant effort to aid the students in all mental endeavors, Dunellen High School has hired a new social worker alongside the other twenty new hires. Eric Salvador, the man of the hour, will now call DHS home for the 2019-2020 school year.
Mr. Salvador has been in this field for the past seven years. He has spent three years helping homeless people and then went on to do migrant work and home studies. However, his favorite area to work in is schools. In a school, he gets to meet so many different personalities and is able to help all of the under-represented students reach their full potential. After all, his main responsibilities here are to, “Meet the social and emotional needs of our students, connect families to resources… and just try to be the best role model I can be.”
Though he went to George Mason University in Virginia and worked there for a time after, Mr. Salvador came to work at Dunellen in order to be closer to his family, who lives in Middlesex. Thanks to his guidance counselor during his senior year of high school, Mr. Salvador actually majored in social work. He knew from then that what he really wanted to do was connect with others and help them out. However, if he hadn’t become a social worker, then he imagines he might be doing something in entertainment or arts, as he enjoys making others happy. But other than that, he also enjoys cooking new dishes and being around his family.
Though he is enjoying his time here, there is one thing he misses about the schools he used to work at. It is no secret that DHS is an extremely small school, and while it may work for some, others prefer a larger atmosphere. This is true of Mr. Salvador, who misses the camaraderie that could only be found in large schools with over a thousand kids. In those types of settings, there were other social workers with whom he could relate to. But here, he is the only one for all three Dunellen Public Schools. However, DHS does have one thing he acknowledges over other schools: school pride. Mr. Salvador notes that there are more students wearing team apparel here than anywhere else he has been to. On top of this, there is an overwhelming amount of support and trust between the teachers and students that is difficult to find in schools where students are just faces in a sea of bodies. The staff here actually want to move towards a brighter future for DHS and it shows in all of their actions.
Many students may not know of the office in room 112. Nonetheless, behind that door is a place for students to turn to when they have nowhere else to go and feel lost and alone. There, they can receive the help they need on both a personal and professional level from someone who can truly relate to them. No matter what, Mr. Salvador’s door is always open and he will be happy to listen.