Hero program lends children a helping hand

  • Published
  • By Jennifer Brugman
  • 60th AMW Public Affairs
Travis Air Force Base, Calif. --  Military life isn’t just stressful for active-duty people. Sometimes, the children of active duty need help coping with moving, a deployed parent or just the regular struggle of finishing their homework. 

The Hero Program, a partnership with the Armed Forces YMCA, the Family Support Center and the Travis School Districts, offers a two and a half hour mentoring session for students at each of the base elementary schools. Each Hero Program lasts 10 weeks. 

The children attending the Hero Program after school receive a snack and do an hour of homework. Then they work for about an hour on social skills, such as making friends, keeping friends and handling conflict. Younger children receive help with one-on-one disputes over things like who gets to use the orange crayon, while older children take part in skits on how to deal with disagreements. 

More than 80 children are attending the Hero Program this session. Ms. Linda Claus, program director, hopes that number will rise to 120 for the spring session. 

“A lot of kids get interactive help [with homework] and they get to do things they normally wouldn’t get to do,” she said. 

For example, if a parent tells one of the tutors their child has trouble with history; the tutor will focus on history. 

“If parents let us know, that’s the key,” Ms. Claus said.
Students also take part in arts and crafts projects and watch movies. 

“We come and finish our homework and after that we go outside for recess,” said Joshua, 12, who is in the Hero Program. “Then we have recess. Then we watch a movie, and we talk about the movie or we do journal work. We talk about what’s right to do and wrong to do. I like watching the movies and then talking about it.” 

The Hero Program is also open to excellent students as they provide mentorship to others, according to Ms. Claus. 

For more information on the Hero Program, call Ms. Claus at 424-4298. 

The Hero Program is in need of a new director for the upcoming 2006 school year. For more information, call Mrs. Barb Beougher, FSC family readiness consultant, at 424-2486.