Program helps students cope with transitions Published July 11, 2005 By Rudi Williams American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- It is a daunting and scary experience when school-age children wake up one morning realizing that they are in a strange new place, and, except for their family, they do not know anyone at all.They have no friends or peers to talk with and know nothing about the school they are about to enter, the neighborhood they live in or the community they just moved into.That is the dilemma of hundreds of military-connected students every time their parents move to different assignments worldwide. Because of the frequent problematic situations for teenagers, Military Child Education Coalition officials created an innovative program called “student to student” to help solve the problem.Retired Army Col. Paul Callen, program director, and a team of school counselors, students and school liaison officers featured the program during the coalition’s recently completed 7th annual conference in Atlanta."For the conference, there were 10 teams of two students each from 10 schools around the country," Colonel Callen said. "Most teams were made up of a male and female student between the grades of sophomore and senior year."Students were brought to the conference to showcase programs they have implemented at their schools, Colonel Callen said. They gave conferees a taste of passion, commitment and belief in their programs, he said. The students performed skits highlighting their schools' student-to-student programs for the 550 conferees.Starting with six schools last year, the program has grown to 51 schools nationwide. Most are public schools on or near military installations.Educators, administrators and military officials found out that the program is a great benefit to them and the schools, Colonel Callen said."It raises the reputation of the school and the community as a comfortable place and welcoming place to be," he said. "It also makes them feel that they're doing something to help students when they first come in or when they leave. And that may prevent issues and problems or solve a lot of problems for the incoming or outgoing transitioning student."There seems to be a lot of need for (the program),” he said. “Folks are really looking forward to implementing the program at their school.”He said the program has no organizational boundaries because each student has the same kinds of needs."So people in all the services are affected by the same situations or have the same needs for the program," Colonel Callen added.For schools concerned about program cost, Colonel Callen said the education coalition pays for the training, including transportation, lodging, supplies and equipment for the students and counselor or teacher."The only cost to the school is their commitment that says that once (the education coalition) trains their students, the school will stay with the program, implement it, follow on, and be accountable and responsible," he noted. "To do so, all the school needs is a teacher, counselor or a volunteer and two students who would commit to running the program."Schools that participate in student-to-student program training are given an interactive counseling center computer device as part of the program, Colonel Callen said."An ICC allows the school to connect with other schools around the world that have the … computer device,” he said.The counseling center is a Web-based videoconferencing system that allows families and educational counselors to exchange information between sending and receiving schools."I think the … program is the answer to a lot of issues and problems with transition when we talk about touching students' lives and really reaching out to them," Colonel Callen said. "I think the program builds student leadership, makes students leaders."The program caters not only to issues students have at new assignments, but also to helping students getting ready to leave a place they know, he said."The student-to-student program meets transitioning student's critical needs, either coming to or (leaving a school)," Colonel Callen said. "Students we've trained become trainers of new students coming in."The three greatest needs transitioning students have are finding their way around a new school, making relationships and good friends, and also learning about the academic requirements for that school, he said."Most of us have moved many, many times and we know how hard it is to make friends,” Sarah Ryan, who attends a high school in Columbia, S.C., told the audience. “We have a 2,300 student population, and it was hard for me to make new friends in such a big school.""Our school has (more than) 1,000 students with 40 percent being military dependents,” said Amanda Feathers, an incoming senior at a high school in Kentucky. “Our school borders Fort Campbell Army base, 'Home of the 101st Airborne.’”"One of the hardest things to do when you come into a new school is to make friends," said Lavar Weston, another student at the Kentucky high school. "We try to make everybody feel like they're part of the family when they come to our school. One of the hardest things to do is build trust in other people."Amanda and Lavar demonstrated different games they play to put new students at ease, including academics as a television game show."I have moved four times -- California, Hawaii, Mississippi and Washington," said Ryane Howry, a student at a high school in Silverdale, Wash., and the daughter of a Navy chief warrant officer. "In those four places, the cultures are completely different. When I lived in California and Hawaii, I was a minority. It was a completely Asian culture. I grew up in that, and that's what I knew. Then when I was in Mississippi I was like, 'Wow, this is weird. There's a lot of white people at my school."That's a culture shock," she said. "You walk into a new school with a different culture and a different way of doing things, and you're like, 'Oh, no, what's going on here?' That really freaks me and my brothers and sisters out a little bit. Besides that, academically, moving around a lot, I've been put through every school system that public schools have been able to think of. With this transition, you lose credits."For example, Spanish is offered for credit in California but not in Mississippi, she said."So when I transferred to Mississippi," she said, "they refused to accept my credits. I had Spanish I, II, III and half of IV."And the grading systems differ from place to place, Ryane said."It's like stepping on an alien planet and saying, 'Hi! Who are you?' And everyone speaks a different language," she said. Programs like student to student help get students through school and help to prevent many problems, she said.