{"id":6938,"date":"2017-08-22T17:03:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T21:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=6938"},"modified":"2017-09-17T21:47:49","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T01:47:49","slug":"military-connected-student-clubs-help-ease-transitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/military-connected-student-clubs-help-ease-transitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Military-connected student clubs help ease transitions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bayside High School junior Morgan McHenry knows how it feels to be a new student.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived mostly in Virginia, Georgia, Hawaii, and once in Florida, but in many different houses and many different schools in each city, moving back and forth between each one of them,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery time you went to a new place, your friends who were there the first time weren\u2019t there anymore because they were all military and had moved.\u201d<\/p>\n

McHenry, a military-connected student herself, moved to Virginia Beach in August 2016 from Broadway, Virginia, just two weeks before the start of the school year. She was pleasantly surprised to find assistance from the members of the school\u2019s Student 2 Student (S2S) club.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it was like another kind of home, where you could go to any of those students in the club and ask for help. A lot of my other schools never did that, so I was wandering around the other schools for days not able to figure out where classes were.\u201d<\/p>\n

McHenry liked it so much, she joined the S2S club last year. Now she is the smiling face incoming students see and she is eager to help.<\/p>\n

\"\"
McHenry (right) at S2S Summer Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She is not alone. S2S clubs are available in all of the division\u2019s high schools, and middle schools offer Junior Student 2 Student (JS2S) clubs. The clubs are part of an initiative by the Military Child Education Coalition to ease transitions and create a positive, welcoming environment for new students \u2013 military-connected and civilian students alike. Many of the division\u2019s elementary schools also have student ambassadors who welcome their new peers.<\/p>\n

S2S and JS2S club members and their adult advisers recently attended a workshop hosted by the division\u2019s Office of Student Support Services for school teams to reconnect and prepare for the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n

There was time to share ideas, too.<\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s for Veterans. Treats for Troops. Donating board games to CHKD. A blanket drive. Canned food collections.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
First Colonial S2S club members present their ideas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe want to empower them to move just beyond welcoming new students. We like to have the service learning component because we feel that it\u2019s important in building character, making connections and meeting new people,\u201d said Natalie Meiggs, the division\u2019s coordinator of military-connected and academic support programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cService\u201d is one of five core values of the Student 2 Student programs. \u201cRelationships, Academics, Leadership and Finding the Way\u201d are the additional stated values.<\/p>\n

Finding one\u2019s way, especially in the cafeteria, is a concern Amanda Yoder says frequently tops the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom K-12, that\u2019s the No. 1 issue. \u2018Who do I sit with at lunch?\u2019 Just having someone they know, a familiar face, at lunch that first day or that first week is huge<\/em>,\u201d said Yoder. She is one of the division\u2019s two military-connected school counselors who is primarily focused on supporting military-connected students and their families before, during and after their school enrollment in Virginia Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hear from parents beforehand. They call and say they are really worried about their child, it\u2019s their first move or they don\u2019t often make friends easily or something like that. We can usually set their minds at ease by telling them about the student 2 student program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn middle schools we partner them with somebody on their same core team. In high schools we try to overlap a class they have in common or the same lunch. They can tell the new students things either adults can\u2019t or don\u2019t think of like, \u2018Don\u2019t go up this staircase.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
JS2S club members participate in a teambuilding activity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Green Run High School counselors Timothy Gamble and Rachel Webb agreed that new students often find comfort in speaking to a peer rather than an adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, coming into our counseling office, students are not feeling overall comfortable, but having someone their own age to talk to, it gives them that great feeling that someone is there looking out for them,\u201d said Gamble.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really important,\u201d added Webb, \u201cespecially in high school. It\u2019s a big school so it\u2019s good to have a point of contact. In case they are not comfortable right away, they have someone they can rely on. It\u2019s great that they build a really good connection with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making connections and offering support are what Channing Connors, a Kellam High School junior, enjoys about his involvement in the S2S club.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a military kid, I feel that it\u2019s great to help people, even though I haven\u2019t moved as much,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a 100 percent acceptance for everyone. We try and help them with their classes and finding new friends, too. We try and set them on the right path. I think it\u2019s one of the best clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Connors at S2S Summer Institute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With support from students like Connors and McHenry, incoming students likely will find it to be one of the best clubs, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bayside High School junior Morgan McHenry knows how it feels to be a new student. \u201cI\u2019ve lived mostly in Virginia, Georgia, Hawaii, and once in Florida, but in many different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":6941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[72,59,36,116,136],"class_list":["post-6938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bayside-high","tag-first-colonial-high","tag-green-run-high","tag-kellam-high","tag-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6943,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938\/revisions\/6943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}