A Follow-Up on Yesterday's Efforts to Help Military-Connected Students

Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa. Witness an MMA legend's final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport. Defense her PFL world title, one last time. Unforgettable end to an unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl. info slash Tampa. We've been talking about the effort that's underway to help military teenagers who may be struggling to find a sense of belonging. Joining us now on the Kogo News Live Line is senior vice president of military and government programs at National University, Meg O'Grady. Meg, thank you so much for joining us on San Diego's morning news. Good morning. Thank you for having me. What kind of struggles are we talking about when it comes to military teenagers? Well, we know that. It's hard to be a teenager, right? And so as hard as it is to be a teenager, it's even harder to be a military teenager. In fact, most military kids have several moves as they go through an average of five different moves in their lifetime and often more. We notice that through the military teen experience survey that the National Military Family Association has done for five years in a row. that teenagers often have a hard time with belonging when they move to a new school. And that really does inhibit some learning. And there are lots of things that we can do to make that better for them as they move through different military communities. So, you know, we know the struggles. I think we all had friends who, you know, when we were in school, they had military families. And so they had to move a lot. And so a kid just naturally has to either get really good at making new friends or they're going to fall into the group who just struggle every single new school they go to. I mean, what can we do about that? Yeah, and I think that's a really good point is that military kids often show a higher level of resilience. And often you can tell that they are really strong at making new friends and adapting to new situations. But there's a whole lot of things that we can do in the classroom. Sometimes we don't even know that those kids are military students, right? And so teachers can intentionally pair military and civilian youth in group activities, especially in a place here like San Diego County. where we know there are so many military families. And the school district in San Diego County have done a wonderful job of really addressing these with their Purple Star School initiative. We can also suggest that teachers hold a morning meeting and students can share their name and a few personal interests. I mean, really simple and effective practices to just identify who are those students. How can we help welcome them with belonging into the classroom? Yeah, where does that come from? What's, I mean, how do you give them a sense of belonging when they're going from school district to school district based on a family's military service? Well, it's.

interesting because as they routinely, you know, navigate these deployments, move, school changes. It's funny how these teenagers can actually connect with each other. They sort of find each other. But just having that identification process through coaches and teachers and being able to say, here are these students. They're coming to us from a military family. They can find like and like. And then they can also connect with civilian students who have been there for a while and really understand like. Where is my team? Where is my club? What are the places that I want to belong here? I, you know, I really admire the ones that do it well. We moved once. when I was a child. And it like shattered me. Oh, you me both. And my brother too, you know, we were both kind of shy. My other sisters handled it okay. But we were just shattered at having to move. And I can't imagine having to do this like every year or, you know. Well, not only that, you're not just looking for a sense of belonging, but you're having to say goodbye to friends you've already made along the way in a short period of time. So often. And, you know, our Sanford Harmony program that we have at National University really does help address with teachers and with millions of students across the United States, you know, these kind of these subjects of belonging and how to create relationships and how to really, you know, get along in the classroom, but not only in the classroom and places that are in their neighborhoods and community spaces, but. You know, as a military spouse, I moved 17 times in 23 years. And my daughter who's 29 now still identifies herself as a military kid. She gets it. Wow. Wow. Meg, thank you so much for joining us. Meg O'Grady, the senior vice president's military and government programs at National University. Thank you, Meg. Thank you. Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa, witness an MMA legend's final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport. Defense her PFL world title. One last time. Unforgettable end to an unforgettable career. And still. Saturday, August 22nd live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl. info slash Tampa. Did you know using your browser in incognito mode doesn't actually protect your privacy? Take back your privacy with IPVANISH VPN. Just one tap and all your data, passwords, communications, browsing history, and more will be instantly protected. IP vanish makes you virtually invisible online. Use IP vanish on all your devices. Anytime you go online at home and especially on public Wi-Fi.

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