Counseling
Meet Ms. Ruffolo
Hello Everyone!
I am excited for my fourth year as the counselor at Tulita Elementary School and I am looking forward to working with the students and parents in this amazing community! I grew up in Chicago and moved to the West coast to pursue my passion for working in the school system with kids. I received my bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Iowa and a master's degree in counseling with my Pupil Services Credential at Loyola Marymount University.
My passion is working with students and helping them reach their full academic, social and emotional potential. In my free time I enjoy going to the beach, hanging out with my friends, and finding new dessert places to try.
My name is Evie Estrada, and I’m so excited to be joining Tulita as a counseling intern while I finish up my Master’s in School Counseling at Concordia University Irvine. It’s such a privilege to be part of this amazing school, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know all of you!
A little about me—my background is in Family and Human Development, which I studied at Arizona State University. Outside of school, I love spending time with my family, hanging out with friends, and taking long walks with my dog (who always manages to find the best sunset spots!). I also really enjoy trying out new recipes in the kitchen!
MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING AT TULITA
In television and film, they used to be called guidance counselors and they were often portrayed as really nice adults who invited students to have awkward conversations that they dreaded. In reality, the role of the school counselor is much more integral in the school setting. For a counselor, there’s no higher calling than improving the lives of their students academically, socially, and psychologically.
We are fortunate to have many programs and support systems available to help our students learn and grow as healthy and happy individuals. Beach Cities Health District, Blue Zones, Redondo Beach Education Foundation, and PTA are supporting a number of programs to support physical health including physical education, nutrition education, garden education, and mindful breathing.
In addition to physical health, we are committed to helping our students with social and emotional well-being. Thanks to the support provided by RBEF, Ms. Ruffolo, our school counselor, lead the way on this front. She provides school-based counseling services, meeting with individual children and small groups to address a variety of social and emotional challenges that may affect students’ health, happiness, and academic success. Ms. Ruffolo's groups help students in areas such as managing anger and emotions, being a good communicator, and making and keeping friends. She also provides regular classroom lessons to help our students develop good citizenship, healthy habits, and social skills. We are also excited to have Ms. Ruffolo continue to advise classroom teachers on the implementation of the MindUP curriculum. MindUP is a family of social, emotional, and attentional self-regulatory strategies and skills developed for cultivating well-being and emotional balance.
We are excited to have a wonderful school counselor in Ms. Ruffolo and look forward to helping our children develop as confident and happy learners and people.
