Marine Headline News
Marine
volunteers make kids smile - Like
rock stars pulling up in a tour bus at a packed arena, Marines
with Materiel Readiness Battalion, 3rd Force Service Support
Group, were greeted by dozens of smiling and screaming
students upon their arrival at the AmerAsian School in Okinawa
May 27. Ten Marines on this trip volunteered to visit the
school and be playmates and teachers to the children
The Marines began their time at the school by
playing games outside with the students, said Sgt. Amy S.
Shandera, Minier, Ill., native.
During a game of keep away, five children
tackled a Marine holding a ball out of their reach to the
ground.
“It is great to have a group of big,
strong Marines come play with the kids every week,” said
school principal and middle grades teacher, Michael T. Fad.
“We receive different groups of volunteer Marines about
twice a week for a few hours in the afternoon. This variety
helps improve the students because each group brings new
experiences that they can pass on.”
Students and Marines both picked up knowledge
that day. In one classroom two Marines received a period of
instruction on writing kanji from an enterprising 7-year-old
student and her teacher.
“The Marine volunteers here are mostly
junior with a sprinkling of NCOs,” Shandera said. “This
could be their first time volunteering with kids or first
out-in-town experience of another culture.”
In the English language skills classroom,
Marines helped the children with their spelling, grammar, and
pronunciation. Sometimes, the students pick up bits and pieces
of Spanish or other languages Marine volunteers speak. The
students would never normally hear these languages in person,
said Fad.
“There is no better way to learn a language
than exposure to it,” Fad said. “Many of the 70 students
we have only speak English at school because their parent or
parents do not speak it at home.”
Fad revealed that several of his students come
from single-parent homes.
“The presence of the Marines on a
regular basis gives these kids the chance to be around a kind
of father figure,” Fad said.
The benefits of the Marines at the school seem
to flow both ways.
“MRB was tasked with covering the month of
May, and we enjoyed our time with the kids,” Shandera said.
“It can help take your mind off being away from home.”
As Lance Cpl. Andrew R. Breen and his fellow
Marines were about to exit the school parking lot, a little
girl raced to their car carrying two Kanji drawings. Perhaps
showing the profound effect of their visit, she handed them
over and said to him, “Andrew, you can’t go without
them!”
GINOWAN, Okinawa, Japan - Pfc. Osiel Ledesma
is tackled to the ground by students during a game of keep
away at the AmerAsian School in Okinawa May 27. Ten Marines
from 3rd Materiel Readiness Battalion, 3rd Force Service
Support Group, volunteered to visit the school and be
playmates and teachers. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by
Lance Cpl. Jonathan K. Teslevich) (Released)
