Submarine School Staff Make a Difference in a Different School - submarine base at Groton, Connecticut, adopts various schools in the area - Brief Article

All Hands, June, 2001

The energy level is palpable. Three hundred fifty plus children, pre-kindergarten through fifth grade -- it's like visiting an imagination factory working overtime. And as many and as varied as the children are at Pleasant Valley School in Groton, Conn., so, too, are their needs and interests.

"Children today," notes Dr. Dottie Hoyts, Pleasant Valley's principal, "are bombarded by influences that didn't even exist when their parents were in school. But, if today's schools are different from what we attended, and they are, our society's expectations of what school should be accomplishing is also different from the 'way we were.'"

Today's schools and teaching staffs welcome helping hands wherever they may be found, and for Pleasant Valley that means instructors from Naval Submarine School (SubScol).

An informal partnership that stretches back for more than a decade, many of the units at the submarine base have adopted schools in the local Groton area.

"Pleasant Valley has been fortunate," explains Barbara Jones, educator, "in being able to draw on patrons from both the Naval Ambulatory Care Clinic as well as Sub School." Jones thinks the uniformed Sailors serve as valuable role models.

"When we first met at the beginning of the year," she remembers, "we asked Sailors where they wanted to volunteer and were pleasantly surprised when so many said, 'in the classroom.' Sailors are an excellent resource for teachers because they are adults who care, and that caring is evident to a child."

For FT2(SS) Scott Deranleau, who helps out in the reading library inside a classroom full of small people with more energy than any room can hold, coming to Pleasant Valley is a like a tonic. "No matter what kind of a day I've had instructing, I can come over here and these kids put a smile on my face. Any day with this much joy at things like having chocolate milk is a great day."

FT2(SS) Richard Okrasinski, who began volunteering in October, strives to work as a math tutor at least twice a week. "I work really hard to squeeze a third visit whenever I can," he said. "Last week, one of the children I work with mastered the 'Three Times' table in multiplication. I'd almost forgotten how great it feels when you learn something new. When her face lit up, I suddenly remembered!"

And for the program coordinator Machinist's Mate 1st Class (SS) Andrew Cheremsak, volunteers get as much from working in the schools as the children get from having them in the classroom.

"I have volunteers here at Pleasant Valley who have children in the school and volunteers who don't. Each has a different reason for helping out, but all have a common desire to not just make a difference, but to be the difference."

And as Barbara Jones offers, "Volunteers are afforded an opportunity through their work to be part of their new community, the one they've become a part of as a result of their military service. It gives them a reward for their own generosity."