Courtesy Photo by Sahar Paz
Sandpoint is always a dark town in January. The sun barely stays over the horizon long enough to go to school. But every year the light within must hold strong, and fight the darkness away.

Sometimes we need a little help, and Sahar Pazirandeh, a life coach born in Iran in 1977, came to Sandpoint to be that help.

Pazirandeh suffered a difficult childhood, moved to the United States when she was eight, and tried to commit suicide three times before she was twenty-five. But she was brought back from the edge and given a chance. Now she has spent over ten years helping others find their inner voice.

Sandpoint High School’s administration had been looking for a presentation on student voice to bring its students for over a year and a half. Several options had bounced around but no good time seemed to present itself. Then, in response to events in the past year, Principal Tom Albertson and the counselors at the high school decided on Pazirandeh.

“The decision was made that we would go [with Sahar] with more of the inner voice and being your own advocate [theme],” Albertson said.

The school has been introducing more help for students into the classroom throughout the school year, and with the help of local non-profit Underground Kindness they hope to continue to provide students with the assistance they need.

To cover the cost of this student support base a grant was written.

“The counseling department has written a grant to the Idaho State Department of Education called Sources of Strength and we did receive that,” Albertson said, “in February, the whole staff will be trained in a two hour training on suicide prevention. After that, there’s going to be maybe six to ten staff, plus maybe our mentors, who will get an all-day training on suicide prevention in a school climate.”

Albertson said of Pazirandeh, “she was the right person at the right time […] her genuine caring and spending time with students was awesome […] I think it’s going to have a lasting impact.”

Pazirandeh felt she made good connections with students, but there was still a struggle with some classes.

“The sophomore boys were crying, I did not expect a response like that. Juniors were my toughest, they just iced me out,” she said.

Albertson felt there was a much better connection with her message for the younger classes who were divided into smaller groups, and he plans on making future presentations more interactive and engaging for students.

Many students stayed after their class presentation to talk with Pazirandeh, and she shared her contact information with the entire school as a support option for anyone who wants to talk to her personally.