MCEC Podcast

Description: Oklahoma is helping military students successfully transition through Purple Star Initiative. Oklahoma’s Senator John Montgomery and Representative Daniel Pae chat with Andi Janoe, Director of Implementation at MCEC, about Bill SB 54 and its impact on military families.

This podcast was brought to you by the generous support of the Offutt Officers’ Spouses’ Club.

https://offuttosc.com/

 

Show Notes:

https://www.militarychild.org/purplestarschools

http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/SB/SB54%20ENR.PDF

https://legiscan.com/OK/legislation/2021

https://kfor.com/news/gov-stitt-signs-bill-designating-oklahoma-as-a-purple-heart-state/

 

Bio: Daniel Pae

 

Daniel Pae currently serves as the state representative for House District 62. Before he was elected to the state legislature, Daniel worked as an Administrative Assistant in the Lawton City Manager’s Office. Born and raised in Lawton, Daniel is a proud graduate of Lawton High School’s Class of 2013. During his time at LHS, Daniel served in Student Council, Media Productions, and National Honor Society. He was the state champion for the Lions Club Speech Contest and the recipient of the Hugh Bish Award, which is given to the top student in each graduating class. Daniel graduated from the University of Oklahoma with two majors in economics and political science, two minors in history and international area studies, and a master’s degree in public administration. Daniel served as OU’s Student Body President, along with volunteering his time with The Oklahoma Group, Loveworks Afterschool Leadership, and Generation Citizen. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a 4.0 grade point average. Daniel received numerous scholarships, honors, and awards during his college career, including the Carl Albert Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Carl Albert Capitol Scholars, and Henderson Scholarship. He was named to PE-ET Top Ten Senior Honor Society, OU Homecoming Royalty, and as a Big Man on Campus. Daniel also received the President’s Award for Outstanding Sophomores, the Regents’ Award for Outstanding Juniors, and the Outstanding Senior Man Award. He was named the recipient of the 2017 Carl Albert Award, which is the most prestigious award given to a student by the OU College of Arts and Sciences based on academics, moral force of character, and promise of future service to the state and nation. In his hometown, Daniel serves on the Young Professionals of Lawton Board of Directors, Leadership Lawton Fort Sill Board of Directors, and Marie Detty Youth & Family Services Board of Trustees. Additionally, he serves on the Autism Foundation of Oklahoma Board and The Oklahoma Academy Advisory Council. He is a graduate of Leadership Lawton Fort Sill Class 28, the 2019 Center for the Advancement of Leadership Skills, the inaugural City of Lawton’s Citizens Academy, and Leadership Oklahoma Class 33. Whenever he has free time, he enjoys going on unexpected adventures with family and friends, working out at the gym, and reading books from the Lawton Public Library. Daniel regularly goes to the movie theater, especially if there is a new Disney-Pixar film that is released

 

Bio: John Montgomery

 

“John Michael Montgomery was born and raised in Lawton and graduated from Eisenhower High School. He began college at Cameron University before transferring to the University of Oklahoma and completed a B.A. in International Studies. Montgomery finished work at OU for his M.A. in Global Affairs in summer 2019. Montgomery works in the financial services industry and founded his own investment advisory firm, Invictus Investment Advisors in 2019.

Prior to election to the Senate in 2018, Montgomery served four years in the House beginning in 2014. Montgomery currently serves in the Senate as Vice Chair for the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government and Transportation.

Montgomery continues to live in Lawton with his wife, Kylee, their daughter, and two dogs. Kylee teaches in Lawton Public Schools.”

 

Bio Andi Janoe

Andi Janoe is currently serving as the MCEC Director of Implementation to deliver services and resources to students, parents, and school professionals who serve military-connected children. As an active duty military spouse and parent to two military children, the information she has learned personally while working for MCEC for the past four years has been invaluable. Additionally, as an educator and school counselor with over ten years of experience in five different school systems, she is passionate about providing support to fellow educators. She is committed to leading the way forward so that when a parent or educator thinks about academic and social-emotional transitions for military children, they think of the Military Child Education Coalition as their go-to organization for resources, education, and support.

We chat with Lisa Molinari, Vice President of Operations at Orion Military Scholarship, about the opportunity for military kids to experience a stable high school experience through boarding school. Then we will have Riley, an Orion Scholar, share why he decided to try boarding school and how being a military kid has made this transition easier.

Show Notes:

https://www.orionmilitary.org/

 

Bio:

Lisa Molinari - VICE PRESIDENT, Operations

Lisa is a licensed attorney and military family columnist for Stars and Stripes, the newspaper for the US Armed Forces at home and abroad. As Navy spouse to Francis for 24 years, and as a mother of three, Lisa understands the impact of frequent PCS moves on military children, and the challenges of finding good educational opportunities.

 

Riley

• Attends St. George’s School (Newport, RI) beginning Fall 2021
• Active-duty Army family
• Currently stationed in Cuba
• Moved seven times, attended eight schools
• Science enthusiast, interested in Microbiology
• Interests include distance running, skiing, guitar, surfing, sailing, mountain biking, stock market

This podcast was made possible thanks to the generous support from the Mildenhall Spouses' Association and Military Spouses' Association 29 Palms.

https://www.mildenhallspousesassociation.com/

https://www.msa29palms.org/

Chance McGlothlin, a National Board Certified Counselor (NBCC) and licensed high school counselor, has a candid conversation about today’s teenagers and how as parents we need to find a way in so we can build conversations around emotional health and the importance of real friends.

Show Notes:

Military OneSource: https://www.militaryonesource.mil/health-wellness/mental-health/suicide/

Barry Robinson: https://www.barryrobinson.org/

Stephen Cohen: https://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org/

Jason Foundation: https://jasonfoundation.com/

 

Bio:

Chance has 14 years of experience in the education setting. He has worked as a high school math teacher, business teacher, and for the past five years he has worked as a high school counselor. While in this role as School Counselor, Chance served as the sponsor for the Student 2 Student program at Leesville High School. Chance has worked side by side with Military Transition Consultants, Military Family Life Counselors, and served on a range of committees aimed at bettering the overall experiences military dependents have as they transition from high school to high school. Creating a sense of belongingness, 100% acceptance, and an overall sense of community has been the primary objectives that has driven Chance’s 14-year career in education. Chance earned his Master’s degree in Counseling with an emphasis on School Counseling. He is a Nationally Certified Counselor and is a certified K-12 Counselor in Louisiana and Texas.

This podcast has been brought to you thanks to the generous support from:

Fort Lee Area Spouses' Club

https://www.fortleeareaspousesclub.com/

Dr. Yalda Uhls will discuss the importance of storytelling and how it relates to our children and how parents can use the power of media to support their parenting.

Show Notes:

https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/

http://www.yaldatuhls.com/popular-writing/

Bio:

Yalda T. Uhls is an internationally recognized, award-winning research scientist, educator and author, studying how media affect young people. Her peer reviewed research has been featured in many news outlets including NPR and the NY Times. As a big believer in bridging research and practice, along with many years of translational work for lay audiences, Uhls recently founded The Center for Scholars & Storytellers, affiliated with UCLA. Uhls is also an adjunct professor at UCLA where she does research on how media affect the social behavior of tweens and teens and teaches a class on Digital Media and Human Development and is the author of the parenting book Media Moms & Digital Dads: A Fact not Fear Approach to Parenting in the Digital Age. In her former career, she was a senior movie executive at MGM and Sony. Dr. Uhls knowledge of how media content is created and the science of how media affect children inform her unique perspective.

This Podcast was brought to you through the generous funding from the Academy Spouses’ Club.

http://www.usafasc.org/

 

 

Thomas McGirr shares his story as a survivor of childhood cancer and how it’s impacted his future path.

Show Notes:

https://dukechildrens.childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/

https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org

 

This podcast has been made possible thanks to the generous support from Eielson Spouses Club- Eielson AFB- AK.

Eielson Spouses' Club (eielsonspousesclub.com)

 

Thomas McGirr is the 19-year-old son of a Retired Special Operations Solider and grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina near Fort Bragg. Currently a sophomore at Appalachian State University, Thomas is majoring in Psychology and minoring in American Sign Language. As a childhood brain cancer survivor he hopes to take his experience and help others as a Child Life Specialist.

Thomas is celebrating his 10^th anniversary of being cancer free this year!

Understanding the foster care process and how military families are some of the best resource families available to those disadvantaged children.

 

 

Show Notes:

 

https://beaneighbor.ok.gov/s/

https://okfosters.org/

https://aphsa.org//

https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/foster-care/interstate-compact-on-the-placement-of-children-icpc

Funder: Kirkland Spouses’ Club

Kirtland Spouses' Club - Home (kirtlandspousesclub.com)

Bio:

Antwone Robinson has over 9 years of experience in the social services field. For the past 7 years, Antwone has worked for Oklahoma Human Services in a variety of roles. For the past 4 years, he’s been a major contributor to building up the foster care community in Comanche County, OK. Driven by the desire to help children and families live healthy and productive lives, Antwone takes great pride in recruiting/developing resource parents to care for children in Oklahoma’s foster care system. Antwone has been recognized by his peers and leadership team for his exceptional commitment and service to children and families.  

National Military Family Association is offering parents of eligible military-connected children with exceptional needs, the opportunity to receive a free, special education curriculum that will empower them to be their child’s best advocate.

Show Notes:

National Military Family Association: https://www.militaryfamily.org/

 Arc@School Curriculum: https://thearcatschool.org/advocacy-curriculum/

NMFA Free Special Education Curriculum: https://www.militaryfamily.org/free-special-education-curriculum/

 

This Podcast was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Maxwell- Gunter’s Spouses’ Club

 http://www.maxwellgunterspousesclub.com/

Lilly Rivera from Gender Spectrum will be sharing how creating gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens aids in finding gender congruence.

 

Show's Notes:

Gender Spectrum:

https://www.genderspectrum.org/

 

This podcast has been made possible thanks to Cannon Spouses Club https://www.cannonspousesclub.org/ “Making Connections & Building Friendships”

and Fort Gordon Spouses and Civilians Club https://fgscc.com/

Missie Wertz, military spouse and mother, shares how raising her two children overseas helped her to have a better understanding of the sacrifices military kids make and illuminated the richness as well as the challenges they have now as young adults.

 

Third Culture Kids is a definition that refers to someone who is raised in a culture other than their parents’ or the country where they are legally considered native for a significant part of their early development years. This podcast will explore this definition and relate it to military kids who have grown up OCNUS and how their unique upbringing has impacted them.

 

 Book: Third Culture Kids, Growing Up Among Worlds by David C. Pollak, Ruth E Van Raken and Michael V Pollack

 

Melissa (Missie) Wertz grew up on a farm in rural South Mississippi. In 1989 she married Stephen Wertz and they moved to their first duty assignment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Over the next 30 years, they served three active duty tours in The Republic of Korea and one tour at Stuttgart, Germany.  Their daughter Rachel  (25) graduated from the American University of Rome in 2020 and now lives in Washington, DC. Their son Sam (23) will graduate from The American University of Paris in December 2021.

 

This podcast has been made possible thanks to the generous support provided by The Association of Bragg Spouses https://fortbraggabs.membershiptoolkit.com/home and the Fort Campbell Spouses Club https://www.fortcampbellspousesclub.org/.

 

Amy Newsom will be sharing her family story of suicide and through the devastation of this event, how they have been given opportunities to have a meaningful impact on others.

Show Notes:

Honor Walk for Donor Family: Lifebanc » The Honor Walk

Military OneSource: Suicide Awareness & Crisis Resources for the Military | Military OneSource

Barry Robinson: Behavioral Health Services for Children & Teens - Barry Robinson Center

Stephen Cohen: Cohen Veterans Network | Veteran and Military Family Mental Health Care

Jason Foundation: https://jasonfoundation.com/

This podcast has been made possible thanks to the  generous support provided by the Davis-Monthan Spouses' Club https://davismonthansc.org/ and the Mountain Home Officers' Spouses' Club https://www.mountainhomeosc.org/.

For the past 25 years, Amy Newsom has served and supported her husband, her seven children, and her military community. As a military spouse, she has completed seventeen Army moves, homeschooled her children for seventeen years, faced multiple combat and training deployments, and pursued her nursing career on a part-time basis. She has volunteered and served in international missions as well as in each community she has lived in and has served as the Family Readiness Group leader at the company and battalion level. She has also filled leadership roles in PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), Mom’s Night Out Homeschool Support Groups across the military homeschool community, and she currently leads a Foster Adoptive Mom’s Group to support parents of foster and adopted children. Amy loves to travel, hike, spend time with her family and is currently pursuing a graduate degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner at Norwich University.

On September 11, 2019, Amy and her husband, Joel, tragically lost their 13-year-old son, Joshua, to suicide. Since this tragic event, Amy has discovered a passion to bring awareness, education, and practical tips to help end the silent epidemic of suicide that is occurring in our society. Amy has found healing through sharing their family’s story and hopes to see GOOD come from this tragic event by supporting and encouraging other families, parents, leaders, and young people to open up and talk about the hard subject of suicide and mental health. Amy hopes that sharing the story of Joshua’s untimely death and the painful journey his family has endured in grieving his loss might help prevent this tragedy from happening to even one more person.