Fort Huachuca, Arizona - Soldiers and students are working together this year at local schools.
Each Fort Huachuca Accommodation School, Child, Youth and School Service Child Care Facility, and Buena High School have a unit assigned as their sponsor through the Adopt-A-School/Adopt-A-Center Program. These relationships were built and grown throughout the 2014 -- 2015 School Year.
With key support from previous U.S. Army Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. James Ramsey, the School Liaison Officer, Erin Schnitger, was able to solidify and create a contingent, and prospering program.
"It has been wonderful to see each unit uniquely develop their program based on the size of their units, availability of Soldiers and staff, and the age group of the entity that they support" said Schnitger. "The neat thing about this program is it has the capacity to constantly develop and grow, based on the needs of the community".
The Adopt-A-School/Adopt-A-Center program is more than a volunteer program. The intensions behind the program are four-fold.
First is rebuilding a positive connection to the uniform, Schnitger said.
"Mom or Dad gets up in the morning, and the Army is seen as the reason they have to leave so early. The Army is what takes them away for a two-week training, a six-month deployment, or a yearlong tour. Thus, throughout the course of their lives, Military children start to see the uniform as a physical embodiment of mom or dad leaving, being unavailable or busy" said Schnitger.
"The moment a Solider walks into their classroom, onto their playground, or the basketball court, it redefines what that uniform means to those children. When they see Army camouflage uniforms in a different capacity, and they see the Soldiers underneath them, they also see the Army as a whole in a different light. This is someone they can learn from, work with or beat at a game of foosball. The relationships they are building through active engagement with youth will first, make the uniform and the Soldier within it approachable, but will also show that the community wants to engage and spend time with our military youth. The uniform will be seen as something that gives back to the kids, as opposed to something that only takes things away," Schnitger said.
"Second, is leadership and mentoring. We have entered a day and age where the traditional nuclear family is becoming rare. We have split families, mixed families, long-distance families, and multiple generations under one roof. The mentoring piece allows for our students and youth to be impacted by positive role models outside of their families. These relationships impact the child and the Soldier, and often they end up learning from each other.
"As Army leaders, these Soldiers are setting an example to not only the youth they are working with, but also to fellow Soldiers. The 2/13th Aviation Regiment requires all Soldiers interested in supporting the Adopt-A-Center partnership with the Middle School Teen Center to fill out an application, and write an essay on leadership qualities," she added.
"Third is community resilience and community support. Resiliency is a buzzword that is used constantly in military communities. Our military youth and military families are often the most tangible physical representation of this word. They take on struggles, hard circumstances and situations, and they push through and persevere. These are skills that build a strong foundation, to make the best out of hardships," Schnitger explained.
"Lastly, is re-engaging our community and our children. Making time for building relationships with our youth makes a large impact on our community. This fosters community support, outreach inclusion, and follow-through within our close-knit world that will carry over as these children grow."
Each individual partnership is owned by the unit. They decide how it will look, and how it will be implemented.
The partnerships include:
The 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion and Colonel Johnston School have the longest active program. The 40th ESB supports special events at the School, and also has implemented weekly Friday activities. These activities include a walking club, and a boot camp, where students work through activity stations with Soldiers; jump rope, use hoola-hoops, basketball, football, Frisbee, soccer drills and skills.
General Myer Elementary School, Network Enterprise Technology Command, Intelligence and Security Command, and Joint Interoperability and Test Command partnered to support General Myer Elementary School after the 11th Signal Brigade relocated to Texas in 2013. This partnership has supported several events at the school over the past year. For National Read Across America Day, each grade level was supported by a unit, and each classroom in the school had a special guest reader come read their favorite story to the students that day. They also supported the Annual Turkey Trot Run in the fall as scorers. Runners and Soldiers supported the Myer Science Fair as Judges.
Soldiers from the 30th Military Intelligence Battalion have been supporting the students at Colonel Smith Middle School for the past two years. Assisting as scores and timers at track meets, assisting with the Annual Run for Your Life 3K Run/Walk Event at the school, and new this year, creating the Sentinel Games competition. Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Companies are partnered with a grade level at the school. Each one is teaching youth Soldiers skills and will be putting them through a grade-level competition during their field day in May.
Captains and lieutenants from the Basic Officer Leadership Course, BOLC, and Captains Career Course have assisted Buena High School students with their Academic Decathlon Competitions, volunteering as judges for the essay, speech and interview components of the competition, as well as proctoring exams. Lieutenants and captains have devoted their training holidays and provided classroom support to teachers and staff at the high school. The 304th MI Battalion has also assisted the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps with physical training and special events, to include the upcoming battalion commander selection and command sergeants major selection boards.
Each month, one tenant unit from U.S. Army Garrison, which includes the 18th MP Detachment, Honor Guard, and Band, visits the Expanding Horizon Child Development Center twice. The band provided an age-appropriate musical performance to the students, teaches them about the instruments, and has even taught them how to play some. The Soldiers of U.S. Army Garrison read books to the classrooms and provide an informational U.S. flag activity. This month, the 18th Military Police Detachment will have a police Show-and-Tell Day with the youth.
The Sgt. Audie Murphy Club supports quarterly outreach projects with the New Beginnings Child Development Center, which have included a book reading about presidents, and a fitness activity with the children at the Center. The NCOs also set a great leadership example with the children and offer classroom support and have donated new books to the facility.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence have acted as judges for two center-wide Seifert School-Age Center competitions, the Boys and Girls Club of America Photo Contest and Art Contest. Forty photos were judges on a 1-10 scale by the supporting unit Soldiers. Winners were submitted to the regional competition, where, if selected, they will go on to the national competition. USAICoE also attended and supported the National Kick Butts Day activity at the School-Age Center on March 18.
The newest partnership is the one between the 2/13th Aviation Regiment, U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground, and the Child, Youth, and School Services Middle School Teen Center, MSTC. As two smaller tenant units, the full support allows for consistency in attendance, regardless of the training mission both entities are supporting.
The Soldiers of the 2/13th Avn. Regt. pop into the MSTC as their schedule allows throughout the week, and support youth clubs such as the cooking club or fitness club. They are always challenging students to a game of Ping-Pong, foosball, or a pick-up game of basketball or dodge ball. The Soldiers will be planning and implementing Friday night activities such as 3-vs.-3 basketball tournaments and video projects.
Throughout the Spring Break Camp, 2/13th Avn. Regt. Soldiers devoted their afternoon to volleyball, ultimate Frisbee and basketball activities.
The structure of the program includes each unit identifying a unit point of contact who works directly with the school liaison officer and school principal or director of the child care facility to coordinate outreach activities, special event support, and develop a calendar.
Consistency and contingency is a piece of the program, which must be handed off during each leadership change in order to keep a strong foundation to the program. This piece is where the program has become dormant in the past.
Though it is not through a formalized partnership, tenant units on the Garrison have shown support to Tombstone High School. On Tuesday, the Tombstone JROTC students will visit Libby Airfield to see and learn about the Gray Eagle, and also head out to Black Tower to learn about the unmanned aircraft system program and work with the flight simulator.
Electronic Proving Ground Commander Col. Ray Compton visited the Tombstone JROTC earlier this year to offer the cadets a leadership brief. The 304th MI Battalion captains from the Captains Career Course, and lieutenants from their Basic Officer Leadership Course supported the Tombstone JROTC Raider Challenge Event in February, when 24 officers supported eight challenge events, which included a 5K run, obstacle course, shooting range, buddy carry and rank-and-file.
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