April is Military Child Awareness month, where we celebrate and honor the contributions and sacrifices military children have made. With being a military kid comes a lot of traveling and moving to new schools, so some organizations try to make it easier for those students. North Augusta has a chapter of one of those organizations called, “Student to Student.” Mrs. Merion, a teacher and chapter sponsor of S2S, stated, “Student 2 Student (S2S) is a student-driven organization that is part of the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC). We focus on three areas: new students, service projects, and academics. Our students first focus on welcoming and helping all new students, not just military. Being a part of MCEC, we also complete service projects that help our local and national military families as well as the community. In addition, we are hoping to begin a tutoring program next year to help those that need academic support. Our student members also benefit greatly from MCEC's leadership opportunities through their Education Summit, Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program, and their summer National Training Session.”
As for the month of April, this is what Student to Student has done. “We've coordinated with the district to complete the 589 Walk-a-Thon. Each of the 589 miles represents the 589 military students in our District. We also conducted a Spirit Week in support of our military students. We also created our New Student S2S Welcome packets for counselors to give new students. These include information sheets about our school and community as well as an interview form so we can best match our members to new students” stated Mrs. Merion. For the rest of the month, S2S has plans that “Two of our members will record a children's military book reading session for our feeder elementary schools. Our members are also painting the American flag and creating thank you videos for our military active duty, military spouses, and military students.”
When asked about average organization meetings, Mrs. Merion stated: “Our organization meetings focus on completing our tasks for events and brainstorming new activities. For our new students, we hold Coffee Talks where we show them what we can provide and offer them a safe place to ask questions and share their experiences. We also provide coffee and snacks and end with a fun game. We've also started an Around the World Coffee Talk for our English language learners, where we do the same activities but include their native languages.”
As or the rest of the 2020 – 2021 academic year, Student to Student “will continue to help each new student transition into the Yellow Jacket family. We will continue holding Coffee Talks for April and May. S2S members are already registering for this summer's virtual MCEC National Training Session. We are also planning our next school year with the hopes that we can be more social and celebrate our Yellow Jacket spirit more!” states Mrs. Merion. Mrs. Merion also adds that Student to Student is looking for new members for the 2021 – 2022 academic year, and that interested students should contact her directly.
Photo Credit: Greer Worley
Pictured: NAHS S2S
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