Photo By Wood Francois | Military children face unique challenges due to the transient lifestyle. The RACE at...... read more read more
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Being a child to military parents can be challenging, as it often involves frequent moves, long periods of separation, and the potential for a parent to be deployed to a combat zone. Among other things, these challenges can affect a child's emotional, social, academic, and overall health.
The team at Royal Air Force Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom, understand these challenges and the importance of the military community doing what it can to enable military children to thrive, no matter their circumstance.
Each year, the installation orchestrates a five-week competitive event called the The RACE to help build community and form connections between incoming and tenure students at Lakenheath and Mildenhall.
The event is put on by Campus Life, a youth program shared by both chapels, serving middle and high school children of military members. Dale Mace, Campus Life Staff, founded The RACE in 1998 and has been running it ever since.
The program was initially launched in Florida before moving to Lakenheath. For the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath and 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, the event serves as an orientation and comradery-building program for new families.
"We realized families coming from overseas might have some fears and anxiety for their kids as they transition into a new life, so we used this program to help relieve those fears," said Maj. Justin J. Szeker, Deputy Wing Chaplain.
The program invites middle and high school aged students to participate and has anywhere from 300-350 students participate annually. As a result of such a large turn out every year, around 25-30 volunteers support the event.
The recruitment process is one of the most significant features of The RACE. Students from the years prior invite new members to participate. The process is often as simple and organic as knocking on a newcomer’s front door to invite them. The event has a strong reputation on and around the installation so there has not been a need to advertise or market it beyond word of mouth.
The event takes place over the course of five weeks with activities planned for each day of the week. Four teams compete in total, with each fighter squadron represented by a different color. Strike Eagle squadrons are represented by red and blue, while F-35 fighter squadrons are represented by gold and green.
Teams can have any number of members, but points are distributed based on how many students they invite, how involved their parents are, how much team spirit they display, and how well they compete each week. While both returning and first-time students are encouraged to participate, first-time students receive bonus points.
"The kids are incentivized to seek out, find, and include new members,” said Chaplain Szeker.
Each session lasts two hours, combining problem-solving and physical activities tailored to each student's strengths. Some of the competitions allow parents to contribute. First-place winners of the event are celebrated and memorialized in the chapel hall with a large poster that all the participants get to sign. Last place gets to sign a toilet seat in their team color that also hangs in the chapel. For some students, the toilet seat is the top prize.
The overarching goal of The RACE is for each student to feel seen, loved, and heard. Strategically taking place right before the start of the school year, The RACE strives to ensure that each student has a friend on the first day of school.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2023 12:10 |
| Story ID: | 443231 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON DC, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 286 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Let’s “RACE” at RAF Lakenheath, by Wood Francois and Diana Nesukh, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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