Unlike every other desk in the Wolverine Center, student support specialist Dalia Yacoub’s desk faces the door. It’s a conscious decision made by Miss Dalia and the counseling team so that she can see the look on every student’s face as they walk into the room, and she can assess whether to offer them a listening ear or a bite to eat from her trademark snack cart. 

As Westview’s student support specialist since last October, Miss Dalia deals with Tier 1 support. This largely entails helping students with basic mental health support and education on substance use and addiction. 

As soon as she started her job, she knew she would have to make herself known to students by interacting with them. She’s found that the most effective way she’s been able to connect with students is by offering them snacks. 

“Students would come in [to the Wolverine Center] saying ‘does anybody have anything to eat?’ and I recognized immediately that this was a need,” Miss Dalia said. “I knew student services snacks had been established here for a while, and so I thought taking that on could help me get to know more students.”

Having graduated from Westview herself in 2017, Miss Dalia drew inspiration for her snack cart from former student services specialist Pamela Roth.

“She was somebody that I looked up to when I was here and somebody I saw often,” Miss Dalia said. “I know she had a huge impact on the school, and her legacy is important to me. They were big shoes to fill as I came into her position.”

Miss Dalia said she doles out Nature Valley bars, Rice Krispie Treats, and Cup o’ Noodles so generously because she’s reminded of the support she sometimes wished she had when she was a student at Westview herself. 

“I was the kind of student who didn’t have people to sit with, and so coming back here, I wanted to make sure nobody else had that experience,” Miss Dalia said. “When I see someone sitting by themself during lunch, I make it a point to ask them to eat with me. I want students to see staff members human-to-human, not just as adults versus kids.”

Sometimes, after sharing a snack, Miss Dalia said she’s able to form a close enough relationship with students to help them from a counseling perspective.

“I think a lot of students aren’t aware of what I can help them with, so having lunch or snacks together sometimes opens the gate for me to be able to give them more support,” Miss Dalia said. “Sometimes, we’re able to talk through their friendship issues or sometimes, for more serious things, I can refer them to [Tier 2] counselors or Mending Matters.”

Mia Ainekulu (10) first met Miss Dalia last year after hearing about her snack cart from a friend. Upon meeting Miss Dalia, Ainekulu said she felt a near-instant connection.

“My friends already knew her so they introduced me to her, but soon she became more than just a person who fed me,” Ainekulu said. “She became a really cool person to talk to and connect with and understands really well what I’m talking about with friendship issues or when I’m having a tough time with certain classes or teachers.”

Similarly, London Hall (10) was initially drawn in by Miss Dalia’s snack cart. However, what she later stayed for was Miss Dalia’s warm smile and genuine advice.

“Seeing Miss Dalia makes my day better because she’s always finding new fun things for us to do,” Hall said. “I remember one weekend, she gave me a card of fun things to do over the weekend and it was a nice thing for her to go out of her way to do. She just cares about every single person on campus, whether she knows them or not.”

Miss Dalia is still striving to make herself a more visible and accessible resource and hopes that students know they can come to her for anything they need. 

“I encourage people just to pop in and say ‘hey’ and grab a snack, whether they’re going through something or not,” Miss Dalia said.

While her line of work isn’t one that comes with tangible results, Miss Dalia’s goal is simply to ensure that she’s making someone’s day brighter every day she steps foot on campus. 

“It’s so important for me to not only take care of the mental health of students, but also the physical health,” Miss Dalia said. “If you’re not physically feeling well, you’re not able to mentally feel well either. I want to make sure that students know that they have somebody in their corner taking care of that.”