Making it in the MilLife

Do you have a cyber-savvy teenager?

Teen to Extreme (T2X), is a brand new health literacy program being offered to teen agers aged 13-17 nationwide.

The T2X project was created as a result of a partnership with Health Net, UCLA School of Public Health, and EPG Technologies.

Health Net Federal Services is making a concentrated effort to reach out to teens of military families.

“It’s tough being a teenager today. It can be even tougher for those in military families, as they face unique challenges when a parent or loved one serves and is deployed and redeployed. The T2X program is a cutting-edge tool for teens to not only find support through the emotional cycles of deployment but also find the information to help them live a healthy and fulfilling life,” said Tom Carrato, president of Health Net Federal Services. “T2X empowers teens to take responsibility and become invested in their own health care and well-being.”

T2X is a teen only-community of users, with teen and professionally produced content, blogs, video sharing and other interactive media.

On T2X, teens will be able to find information on lifestyle issues such as nutrition, fitness, stress management and substance abuse.

Teens will be able to chat on line with health experts and ask questions, text key words to a designated number and receive customized content back to their mobile devices, participate in health oriented social networking through blogs, videos, and other transmedia tools.

The mission of T2X is to see teens become actively engaged in their health care and to promote health behaviors.

Parents and teen-check it out and tell us what you think.

The average military child will attend six to nine different schools from kindergarten to twelfth grade.  Frequent moves and long deployments place a heavy burden on military families and often put the military student at an educational disadvantage.

As a military spouse and a mother of three “highly mobile” military children, I personally understand the challenges of transitioning children to new schools.

My children experienced this turbulent student life firsthand.  My eldest child attended eight schools in 12 years. My middle child also changed schools eight separate times including the dreaded senior year move. My youngest is on his seventh school in ten years.

As parents, we face many challenges transitioning our children between schools:  class placement, records transfer, immunization requirements, course placement, graduation requirements, exit testing, and extra-curricular opportunities– to name a few.

To help alleviate some of these challenges and concerns, states can participate in the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.  The Compact provides students consistent transition procedures between states, while maintaining the uniqueness of each state’s education policies.

To date, 39 states have joined the Compact to help ease the educational burdens facing our service families required to undergo inter-state school transitions. The Compact is a logical and sensible solution to this daunting challenge our military children face.

Georgia, with more than 42,000 military children, is the largest military-impacted state that has not yet joined the Compact.

Senate Bill 219, The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, passed the Georgia Senate by unanimous vote in 2011 but still remains eligible for action in 2012.

The time for action has come. The Georgia Governor wants to hear from military families now.

Contact Governor Deal today and urge him to support passage of Senate Bill 219.

Governor Nathan Deal’s contact info:

Address:
Office of Governor Nathan Deal
203 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334

Phone: 404/656-1776

Fax: 404/657-7332

E-Mail