Students practicing donning PFDs

What audience is virtually untapped by the USCG Auxiliary, is transported daily into groups for the purpose of learning and has a strong potential for needing important information that Auxiliary programs can provide?  The answer is the young people who are in our public and private schools, many of whom belong to boating families.  School age students are young minds that act like sponges waiting to be challenged. Our challenge is keeping up with their need for information that they can understand.

Seminole County, Florida has about 1,750 students attending Walter A. Teague Middle School in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Approximately 300 of these students per year participate in either a boating safety program and or a marine safety program presented by Flotilla 45 from Sanford, Florida.

Lawton Child’s Middle School in Oviedo, Florida also hosts Flotilla 45 during their annual Earth Day Celebration where many environmental organizations are invited to put up displays and demonstrations for all 1,300 + students and faculty to review.  Add local Boy and Girl Scout organizations, the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets, and other teacher requests for presentations at other schools and together the total exposure of USCG Auxiliary programs to students of all age groups for this one flotilla is about 3,000 total students per year!

Tapping this audience may be easier than you think. Here are a few ideas for getting started.

First, most public schools have mission statements that include “encourage community involvement, public awareness, recruiting of human resources and positive support for teachers, staff and students! “  (www.scps.k12.fl.us).  They have developed programs such as Dividends, which encourage adult volunteers to donate time to the schools which translate into extra help for students, exposure to a wider variety of related subjects and dollars and cents returned directly to the schools from the State.  Most dividends help with tutoring, in classroom assistance, chaperoning trips and relief positions in clerical and clinic areas. Awards are usually handed down at the end of the year in the form of a plaque and lunch-in to say thank you.

Second, many counties have a Speakers’ Bureau specifically for the schools to list available resources by topic that a teacher can pick from for a guest speaker.  Databases are compiled and maintained by the school system. All a teacher has to do is pick a topic and the arrangements are made.  Organizations and individuals are screened ahead of time, along with their presentations and content.  Getting on the list requires a phone call, answering a few questions and a syllabus submission.

Thirdly, the high school level students require “X” number of volunteer hours with approved volunteer organizations for scholarships.  This requires going through the school board, answering some questions on a form and providing supervised volunteer projects for young persons who could be prospective members or possible program participants. Most, who pick the Auxiliary are interested in the military and use this as a free trial.

Target groups within the schools depend on your interests, patience, stamina and creativity for reaching out.  Latch Key programs after school may be a way to get started.  They are usually mixed grades in small groups.  Activity related presentations usually work best.  Special celebrations like Earth Day give you an opportunity to use the PA presentation method for marine debris and water pollution, while handing out literature that goes back to the classroom and home for siblings and parents to review.

Pre-JROTC programs have flexibility for lengthier boating safety programs as well as marine and environmental topics.  Arranging to involve local water law enforcement agencies during the program and opportunities for a field trip to a local Coast Guard Station, after the program, show students a unified cooperative network, help to reinforce the important concepts of the material, and encourage impressionable young citizens and future boaters into obeying the laws.

Auxiliary programs that involve marine debris and environmental protection topics present well when teachers reach the “How Things Interact with the Environment” topics under the “Sunshine Standards” ( www.itrc.ucf.edu/sss). The Malama Ana I Ke Kai Hawaiian Marine Debris presentation coupled with Saving Inky [ANSC#4010], or Our Playground Their World and a discussion on trash biodegrading in our waterways takes a nice 45-minute class period and covers almost an entire section of Sunshine Standards. Presenters may want to include goodies from the recruiters and or Sea Partners for the students and use as many props as possible with hands on participation, which creates great lasting impressions and reinforces important learning concepts for all types of learners.

Junior ROTC students

Boating Safety programs cover all ages. “Boating Fun – Adventure of Water” covers grades K-3 [ANSC# 3011]. “Way Points – Boating Fundamentals” covers grades 4-6 [ANSC#3010]. “ABC” covers everyone else.

Middle school presentations of the “ABC” program require presentation modifications.  The time frame is 45 minutes for 10 or more class periods over a multiple week period.  We have developed word searches, crossword puzzles, labeling pictures, vocabulary lists, practical demonstrations with model boats, an emergency equipment scavenger hunt on a trailered facility, and a race to properly put on a life jacket contest.  Team competition and cooperation dominate most of the activities.  Reinforcement in various ways helps more learners; even those with disadvantages participate actively. The school age audience is eager, energetic, and most vulnerable to mishaps on the water.  Offers to volunteer in schools are graciously welcomed and provide a variety of opportunities for Auxiliarists to share our knowledge and programs to a large diverse population in a positive way. They are our citizens and future boaters to be informed and protected.  What better way to reach out into our communities then through our youth?  Good luck and have fun!  Semper Paratus!

SK