PTA members and school facilitiators give a round of applause for Ms. Carmen Rey as she receives her second Honorary Service Award. With a smile, she turns to thank the congratulations that come her way.
Ms. Rey is known to many for founding the Peer Listening Program, a counseling system that she is still a facilitator for, in TCHS. Ms. Rey has made quite the journey, starting out as a teacher at Ramona Convent, moving to Crenshaw
High School as a Physical Education teacher, becoming head of the department in Mountain View High School, which she helped open, and finally moving to Temple City to become a counselor. After working at TCHS for 27 years, she retired in 2003 and now mainly focuses on the Peer Program.
She started the Peer Listening Program because she saw the problems students had and wanted to fill the gap in their lives.
“We needed something here to help them connect,” Ms. Rey said. “We were in difficult times, and too many people just weren’t listening.”
Ms. Rey sensed that there was a hidden potential in the students to establish personal connections with each other in order to help and work with one another. She knew that the program had a lot to offer, and not only did it train the students, but it taught her many valuable lessons as well.
“I have learned, through the program, that it is important to speak what you feel because you are important and what you say counts,” Ms. Rey said. “No one is going to shut me up once I have an opinion. You have to just push away the fear and speak out.”
When she was presented with the award for her continual support and community service, she felt a bit surprised, but was very pleased.
“I was so honored when I received it. I know that I don’t have much time, and there are so many things we can still accomplish,” Ms. Rey said. “We are all here for a reason, and there is still work to be done.”
In the future, Ms. Rey hopes to work with veterans, a goal that she is passionate about and truly wishes to achieve.
“There is a dire need of listeners for the soldiers. We are not listening to their needs even though they are calling out to us,” Ms. Rey said. “They may not have a wound you can see, but it’s on the inside that is causing all this pain.”
She would also like to travel more and go to Italy one day with her daughter.