TUMON, Guam (NNS) -- Educators from Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Guam District schools and the island's public and private schools participated in the Military Child Education Coalition's (MCEC) Transition Counselor Institute (TCI) Phase II at the Guam Marriott Resort in Tumon, Guam, Jan. 12-13.
The event was the second in a three-part series on the social and emotional factors as they relate to military students and their families.
MCEC is a nonprofit organization that focuses on ensuring that military children receive quality education in a challenging world that includes mobility, family separation and transition.
"Everything that we teach is researched based, and the research was done on military families, hundreds and hundreds of them," said Judy Coffee, a lead trainer with MCEC. "The people we come to train are the frontline helpers, your teachers, your counselors, the people on your post that work with your families and children. We are trying to teach them to teach kids resilience."
On average, military children move six to nine times between kindergarten and 12th grade. School-to-school moves bring different academic standards, courses and graduation requirements that vary across states and schools. In addition to frequent moves and mobilization issues, family separation can also affect a military student's school performance.
Cmdr. William C. McCool Elementary/Middle School (MEMS) guidance counselor Julie San Nicolas said it is important for educators to focus on ensuring a smooth transition into a new school as well as the transition from the old school.
"They've left best friends and they've left a community what they're used to," she said. "This training is going to give us even more ideas on dealing with this."
San Nicolas said one tactic MEMS uses to help students transition to their new academic and social environment is having current students mentor new arrivals.
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