Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2012

Faith program aims to build resilience, skills

Resiliency isn’t just for Soldiers — it’s for eighth-graders, too.

To prepare students for high school, the Faith Middle School’s High School PREP program will help children develop skills to succeed.

The program, from July 19-20 at Faith, will focus on building confidence, memory techniques, team building, attention control, energy management, assertive communication, integrating imagery and study skills.

“I think a lot of kids are nervous about going to high school, and this is to help students build coping skills and they can practice skills that can help them both socially and academically,” said Daniel Perkins, Faith’s new principal.

Last year, Perkins served as vice principal and has an active role in the execution of the PREP program.

The two-day course will be taught by Comprehensive Soldier Fitness-Performance and Resilience Enhancement Program instructors, who combine PREP, the Learning Enhancement Program and Master Resilience Training Program used to help Soldiers with resilience training.

The course is broken down into sessions lasting up to two hours and includes a project that will be presented at the end of the course.

“The dynamic part about the whole thing is that it’s focused on creating their ability to focus on the new challenges with memory, studying, test-taking and applying that in a way that makes them more successful,” said Sam Rhodes, who manages the Maneuver Center of Excellence CSF program.

Rhodes said the program targets middle-schoolers because It’s easier to change their habits. He said it is important for students to learn resilience and improve their performance no matter where they are starting from, though.

In addition to the regular challenges and experiences of high school, Perkins said military children also face unique circumstances with deployments and moving around.

“You can only imagine the stress a child faces knowing their parent is going into combat,” he said. “I think it is a very positive step that the Army is looking to address. I applaud the Army for becoming aware of that and asking us to become involved in that…it’s (a service) we can offer to the kids and their Families.”

To register your child, or for more information, email usarmy.benning.tradoc.mbx.resilience@mail.mil or call Faith Middle School at 706-545-0310.