School-Age Center students laugh while playing puppets with the technology-classroom associate.

School-Age Center offers kids fun, familiarity

Christy Graham

Public Affairs Specialist

4-11-2022

FORT POLK, La. ­— Military kids see a lot of transition. Permanent-change-of-station moves find kids in new towns, schools and daycares. But, at the School-Age Centers on Army installations, military children are afforded a sense of consistency and familiarity.
Michelle Thorman, Fort Polk SAC director, said that Army wide, SACs are designed to look and feel the same. Although the building orientation may sometimes be flipped, the classroom setups are largely the same across installations.
“After a PCS, kids have a new house and they’re in a new location, but they’re able to come into (the School-Age Center) and feel like it’s home. It helps ease the process when PCSing to come somewhere familiar,” she said.
As kids move across the globe, they are able to enter Army SACs and find the same areas in which to play and the same choice-board systems to use, she said.
Thorman said that Child and Youth Services also have Military Family Life Consultants throughout their programs.
“(The consultants) talk to the kids and support them, whether it’s regarding anti-bullying or talking about deployments, they are able to provide emotional support when the kids need it,” she said.
Often, the staff working in the centers are also military connected, Thorman said, which bolsters the level of understanding between the kids and staff.
“Some of our staff were military children or they are military spouses — both active duty and retired — so they’ve either grown up or raised children in a military environment. That experience helps them relate to the children. They know what it’s like to have a parent deployed, and they can hone in on that when kids are struggling and then give them support,” she said.
Thorman said that Soldiers and Families can come in knowing that their children are in good hands. Each facility has cameras, large windows that look into the classrooms and staff that undergo an extensive vetting process before they are hired, she said.
“Our staff is also continually training on nights and weekends. They work more hours than people know, but that training ensures we provide high-quality care,” Thorman said.
Thorman said SAC provides before- and after-school care for first through fifth grade students and offers summer-camp options as well as full-day care on all school-out days.
“(The School-Age Center) has eight self-contained classrooms, but the program is free-flowing, so the kids can choose where they want to go after school.”
The curriculum comes from 4-H and the Boys and Girls Club ofAmerica, and these programs are utilized Army-wide, buttressing the effort to provide consistency and familiarity for military-connected kids, Thorman said.
At SAC, kids can enjoy arts and crafts, design and build, technology, performing arts, computer lab, homework center, and science and arts classrooms; and they have a recreation zone, library and gym she said.
In the homework center, kids can get help with their homework, Thorman said.
“The homework associate is there each afternoon to help tutor. When homework is over, she is always playing learning games to help them with their multiplication and spelling words,” said Thorman. 
“We also have a life-skills classroom, where kids learn anything from sewing to how to tie their shoes. Recently, the kids learned how to change a tire and the chain on a bike.”
The life-skills room is also home to SAC’s award-winning guinea pigs, Kj and Cal, she said. The “mascots” were donated by the Fort Polk Military Police, and the kids learn how to take care of them by feeding them and cleaning their cages.
“We put (Kj and Cal) in the West Louisiana Forestry Festival Fair in October 2021, and they won three first-place ribbons, two second-place ribbons and three third-place ribbons for appearance and unique animal entry. The kids in sewing club made them little bowties and vests for their presentation at the fair,” Thorman said.  SAC also has outdoor play areas for the kids, including a backcourt, playground, gardening area and space for their creative sidewalk chalk art, she said.
“We do a lot of gardening — the kids grow their own vegetables, and then prepare and eat them in cooking club,” said Thorman.
Thorman said that the program is predominately kid led and is based on several surveys the kids complete.
“Our activities are based on the kids’ interests, within reason. They like gardening, so we built a garden; they wanted to work with wood, so we built corn-hole boards — it is definitely a kid-led program,” she said.
For parents, Thorman said that CYS offers parent-education classes every month, ranging from potty training techniques to dealing with temper tantrums. Thorman added that the topics are based on parent requests.
“We sent out a survey in December and January, and the parents voted on what they wanted to learn. Our topic for April 28 is ‘How to Raise a Child to be a Responsible Adult.’ You can also take the class by viewing it online via the Polk CYS Facebook page,” she said.
To top it off, Thorman said, parents earn two participation points for each class they attend (in person or virtually). Ten participation points can be redeemed to reduce one month’s child-care bill by 10%. Parents can also earn points by donating items the centers need, she said.
“For example, SAC is collecting plastic bottles for crafts planned for summer camp and for a recycled-art week during spring break this month, so parents can earn points for bringing clean, empty plastic bottles,” said Thorman. 
Thorman said that she loves the SAC program and believes that the students appreciate all the fun they try to provide.
“My favorite thing is that you can come here, see your friends and just have fun. There’s so many things you can do,” said Austin Rowlands, SAC student.
“My favorite part about SAC is that there’s an arts and crafts room with paint, and I love the (technology) room because it has a lot of Legos,” said Adalyn Scharf, SAC student.
The Fort Polk CYS offers programs and services for children of eligible military and civilian Families, including full and part-time care, before- and after-school care, camps and a free middle school and teen youth program. To begin the enrollment process, or if you have any questions about programs and services, call the Fort Polk CYS main office at (337) 531-1955.