SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --
Team Seymour resilience instructors
led a camp to teach the four pillars of comprehensive Airman fitness to children
of military members, July 25 - 29, at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North
Carolina.
Make It Better 4 Teens is an annual
camp for military youth, ages 10 to 17, and teaches teens how to cope and be
resilient throughout the ever-changing lifestyle of the military.
“Our goal is through the fun and
the lessons we taught will be something that’s always there in the back of
their mind, so the instances that do come up where they do need resilience
something may trigger to help them,” said Master Sgt. William McDougle, an
MIB4T instructor. “I hope that they take a little bit of the messages we were
talking about throughout the week. We tried to give them a lot of information
that is practical every day.”
The resilience instructors help the
youth look at the pillars of comprehensive Airman fitness (mental, physical,
social and spiritual) in a different perspective to see how each one
corresponds with the other and how to make theirs stronger. This is done with
different trust and communication exercises.
The students exercised their
resilience by playing a game of memorization and communication, writing nice
things about the other students, building their own superhero with resilience
powers, designing a tree of things they are thankful to have and their goals
for the future.
“What we found with the camp is it
helps the kids realize that even though they may have a plan and everything
goes wrong, that’s alright,” said 1st Lt. Elizabeth Vaughan, MIB4T director. “They
have been given certain skill sets that they can take away from the camp that
will help them cope and get back on their path.”
This year approximately 30 children
and teens attended the Youth Center sponsored camp.
“I’m looking around at all the
kids, and they have smiles on their faces,” said McDougle. “They look like
they’re having fun, and even the older and harder to impress teenagers are
having fun. So I think the program is a success.”