had a toolbox, Betz A handful of boys sat around a table at Hillcrest Elementary School and talked about what made them angry. One serious boy told the group he'd gotten in a fight that day because another boy wouldn't give him back his football. Then he described the circumstances that led to another fight earlier in the week.

The boys belong to the fourth grade anger management group that counseling intern Natalie Betz conducts.

"What are the ways you handle your anger?" she asked the boys.

"I don't," replied one boy.

He's not the only student who doesn't know how to manage his emotions. Hillcrest teacher Cassy Gasser said she had a variety of behavioral problems in last year's class.

"Before Natalie came, I would spend half an hour, two or three days a week in the hall counseling students. There were a lot of different problems. One of them was gossip. I had to talk to several girls about that."

She said this year, there have been fewer disruptions during class time.

"With the No Child Left Behind law, that's the way it has to be. There is a lot of material to cover. It's been great having Natalie here this year."

Learning to manage their anger Graduate student Natalie Betz has spent the year taking courses at Purdue and working as a counseling intern at Hillcrest Elementary School. She has initiated a support group for children of divorce and one for anger management. Pictured, in the back, is Betz listening to a fifth grade boy describe his emotional arsenal. He said he has a toolbox and is able to use those tools to avoid acting out when he gets angry. Comet photo by Dee Dellenbach Betz is in her last year of graduate school at Purdue and is set to graduate in May. She majored in law and society for her undergraduate degree.

"I want to help families," she said. "and to focus on juveniles and delinquency. When I graduated, I worked with child protective services. But I wanted to be proactive instead of take care of them after the fact." That's when she decided she'd like to become a school counselor.

In Betz's anger management group, a boy explained that he had a toolbox, and in that box was a remote control. The buttons on the remote had special meanings: Play prompted him to play his thoughts properly, the Power button reminded him that he has power to get over his own anger; and Pause reminded him to take time to cool off.

Betz asked the boys why they got into fights. One boy matter-of-factly stated that it was a reflex.

"Someone says or does something and I react," he said.

The other boys told Betz about incidents that they'd reacted angrily to earlier that day.

Betz asked them if they had a good reason to be angry. One boy answered that his parents divorced and his best friend moved away. Other boys answered that they had reasons to be angry. Betz asked if they were angry about those things today. A few said yes and the rest had no answer.

She asked the boys if they sometimes take their anger out on other people.

"Yes, my mom," piped one boy.

"How can we let anger not affect us so much?" asked Betz.

"I can draw to get it off my mind," said one.

Betz ended the session by asking the boys to draw pictures of a recent incident that made them angry, and then to think about how they handled it.

She said she spends about 25 hours a week at Hillcrest and has just begun a support group for kids from divorced families.

"Kids feel like it's their fault," said Betz. She said she tries to help children realize that divorce is a decision between their parents. The group's goals are to get kids to understand that they are normal, that others are going through the same problems and that they are not alone.

During the week, Betz sees about 30 kids for a variety of reasons. She also goes into classrooms and talks about issues. Second graders, for example, hear lessons about social skills, like how to keep their hands to themselves and not to speak out in class.

Laurie Linback was having a troublesome time with her third grader after her divorce.

"After we moved her, Hannah had a longer ride to see her dad every other weekend. She started coming home acting rude and disrespectful to her stepfather," said Linback. "She'd always been a calm, sweet child. I contacted Natalie. They started by playing games and gradually talked everything out. She's back to her old self again. She says she feels better and enjoys talking to Ms. Betz."

Susan Caputo said her daughter was having trouble dealing with being a younger sibling and not getting to do all of the things her older sister did. She said Betz taught her daughter to write in a journal to help her understand why things work out the way they do.

Betz said she has had a good year at Hillcrest. "I love it and I enjoy working with these teachers. We have worked with specific problem behaviors. Parents have come in and we've worked together. We can nip (the behaviors) in the bud before they become problems in middle school."

"Every kid I help, I feel better," said Betz. "When I was working with child protection services, I was dealing with problems after they had already developed. Now I can help before it becomes a problem. I feel like I'm helping," she said.