SAN ANTONIO – April is the Month of the Military Child.
There are more than 1.6 million children who face many challenges and unique experiences because their parents are in the military.
Active-duty service members are known to relocate duty stations every two to three years. Many of those service-members bring along their families with children ranging from 4 to 18 years of age.
Students at Ronald Reagan High School are leading a program to help students of military families navigate the challenges of relocation.
Military-connected children are those whose parents are active-duty members of the National Guard or reserves or are veterans of the US military.
According to the Texas nonprofit Military Child Education Coalition, children of military families often experience six to nine moves during their elementary and secondary school education, that’s three times more than the civilian population.
Lila Chilton, who is a junior at Reagan High School, knows firsthand the experience of regularly being the new kid at school because her dad is an active-duty service member.
“You’re very nervous. Your nerves are all racked, and you’re very unsure of what’s going to be coming next,” she said.
Chilton said continuous relocations and separations can be overwhelming but make military-connected children that much more resilient and adaptable.
In an effort of making frequent transitions a little easier, the North East Independent School District has incorporated a program called Student 2 Student, a student-run program that helps new students get acclimated to their new campus.
“We meet with new students as they come in or students that are leaving Reagan, to just help them get used to the environment and sort of learn like what’s around them, the options that they have,” said Fatima Berlanga, a junior at Reagan High School.
Berlanga and Chilton give new students a tour of the campus, eat lunch with them and provide encouragement, which creates a culture of inclusion.
Fatima said S2S program is important because she, too, understands the feeling of being in a new environment.
“I kind of was thrust into this new school mid-semester. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t even know about any clubs, I didn’t know how to access my grades. I didn’t know anything at all. So, I felt very lost,“ Berlanga said.
Ronald Reagan High School has over 3,000 students, and in a campus with so many students, the S2S program leadership says it’s important every military-connected student is made to feel welcomed and are set up for success.
“So, we really try to meet their unique needs that they have because they all come in from different places and we want to make sure that we are here to support them in every way that we can,” NEISD Guidance Services Coordinator Kyra Bush said.
Northeast ISD has over 6,000 military-connected students, with more than 600 attending Reagan High School. Students in the S2S program say it really benefits new students who are at risk for depression and anxiety due to relocation.
The Bob Woodruff Foundation will be hosting an event at the USAA main campus on Thursday to meet with local school, military and civic leadership to identify more solutions to the mental health crisis military-connected children are facing.