KATHERINE, Australia -- Marines and sailors participating in Exercise Southern Frontier 2013, hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force at RAAF Base Tindal, Australia, went back to school during a community relations event Aug. 16.
The event aimed to help improve literacy skills for students at Macfarlane Elementary School in Katherine, Australia, which is RAAF Base Tindal’s neighboring town. Servicemembers read books, helped with arts-and-crafts and played sports with students.
Lt. Cmdr. Denise Wallingford, chaplain for Marine Aircraft Group 12, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, scheduled the event to allow service members off base and to provide a positive role model for local youth.
Lance Cpl. Faith Cummings, an aviation supply Marine with Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242, was one Marine who participated in the school visit. Cummings said she volunteered for the trip because she likes to be around children and plans on going to college to study early childhood development.
“I enjoyed the visit because I was able to learn a lot about the kids,” said Cummings. “By being able to read with the kids I was able to see that they were all at different reading levels and that some of them were really shy and some were very outspoken.”
Once arriving, the event coordinators divided up each participant into their own class. This ensured each servicemember had a different experience while at the school.
“I was with a transition class so I was working with kids from kindergarten to first grade,” said Cpl. Stephenie Stombaugh, a motor transportation operator with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171. “They were all getting ready for the next grade level, so we did simple stuff like learning shapes and counted from one to twenty and then we tried doing it in reverse.”
Stombaugh said her favorite portion of the school visit was when it was time for the students to have recess. During this time, she was able to work with individual students and even had time to show the boys in the class how to make paper airplanes and hats.
While Stombaugh, who has four brothers and is a state-certified babysitter, says she is comfortable around children, she also said events like this are a great way for people who are not.
“I think it’s a great opportunity, especially if you aren’t comfortable with kids,” said Stombaugh. “It actually helps you get out of your uncomfortable zone, because not all of them are comfortable. Many of the students were shy, but they slowly grow on you as they see you participate with them. They will grab your hand and be like, ‘hey look at this,’ but they’ll slowly do it, so it’s a process that you do with them.”
This event marked the second of eight planned visits to the school by servicemembers. In addition to the school visits, Marines and sailors with SF13 are scheduled to spend two weekends working with local indigenous tribes in Australia’s Northern Territory.