Central Middle School shows military appreciation

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  With his red hair styled into a mischievous peak, Central Middle School of Science Orchestra member 14-year-old Paul Lindemuth delicately raised his bow to a prone, cherry-colored cello, prompting violinists Emily Decker, 14, and Samathna Paskvan, 13, to join him in an instrumental rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner."

Service members, some fresh from the duty day and still wearing their tiger-stripe Airman Battle Uniforms, smartly rose to their feet.

The troops stood at crisp attention while facing a small U.S. flag hanging in the Central Middle School of Science cafeteria.

The National Anthem capped off the musical trio's five-song prelude to this year's CMSS military appreciation banquet, Feb. 10, and provided the formal beginning of the night's activities.

Families filed through a line for a taco dinner complete with all of the trimmings before sitting down to watch four video presentations prepared by military children as a tribute to their parents' service.

Agencies representing many of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson's family support agencies spoke briefly about their capabilities and made themselves available afterward for questions.

Senior Master Sgt. Robert Bolton, 732nd Air Mobility Squadron, came with his 12-year-old daughter, Allison. The non-commissioned officer said he appreciated the effort put forth by the school and JBER agencies to host the event.

"This was an awesome thing for the school to do and to involve the military community, not just the military members," he said. "But also the people who help us every day."

The event was hosted and largely organized by Dan Pinkerton, 8th grade counselor.

Pinkerton said he served twenty years in the Air Force and retired as a Office of Special Investigations master sergeant in 1993 before finding his second career in education.
Pinkerton said approximately 30 percent of the school's students are military children, and CMSS leadership acknowledges that fact through awareness and care.

"The military kids are much like a lot of our Native population, very transitory," he explained. "In that, there are a lot more issues that come up.

"So as a staff, they're hired with that intent - do these teachers have the heart to have empathy for that kind of student?" Pinkerton asked. "Which can be pretty challenging at times."

Pinkerton said the primary intent of military appreciation night - even beyond honoring military service - is to get parents intimately involved in the education of their children and to break down a hard delineation between school and home life.

"With the mentality that school is school and home is home, there's no connectivity," he said. "Kids see that and try to play that game, so we try to keep our doors open and do these kinds of things to invite different parent groups in."

Pinkerton said though the military appreciation night has been hosted for several years, this was the first year installation services were expressly invited.

"If we can get the parents in and get that information right there in front of them, we drop barriers and - rather than go to this building or that building - they put a face to a resource," he elaborated. "As soon as you put a human face to a resource, it becomes useable. Until then, it's just a bureaucracy.

"School is more than just teachers," Pinkerton added. "We really care about the whole family."

An Adventure Club team building exercise was the capstone event for the evening. Families were given a short stack of paper, a bundle of paper clips and the dubious task of engineering and constructing the highest tower.

Perhaps it was no small wonder Tanner Chandler, 12, son of Senior Master Sgt. Robert Chandler, 773d Civil Engineering Squadron, and Air Force Master Sgt. Patrice Chandler, 673d Logistics Readiness Group, came out the victor, constructing a cleverly designed tower of some four feet with the help of his parents who offered a bit of their military expertise.

The counselor explained the intent of the paper engineering exercise went beyond problem solving and team building.

"Adventure Club isn't about self esteem, it's about self worth, which are two different concepts," Pinkerton explained. "It isn't about how the world sees you and finding your approval there. It's about how you see yourself."