School Liaisons and Extension: A Network of Support for Military Youth

When military kids move, their whole world shifts—schools, friends, routines, and support systems. 

In this episode of Practicing Connection, school liaison Karen Watkins-Diouf and 4-H educator Jeremiah Johnson share how they work together across military and civilian systems to make sure those kids don’t fall through the cracks.

Military-connected kids move more often than most of their peers, and every move disrupts their relationships, routines, and sense of belonging at school and in the community. In this episode of Practicing Connection, we talk with Karen Watkins-Diouf, Army School Liaison at Fort Campbell’s Army Child & Youth Services, and Jeremiah Johnson, Christian County Extension Agent for 4-H Youth Development at the University of Kentucky.

Karen and Jeremiah describe what school liaisons and county Extension educators actually do, how their roles intersect, and how their partnership creates a wider network of support for military families—on and off the installation. They share practical stories about bridging military and civilian systems, navigating “two languages,” and keeping families at the center when youth are dealing with repeated transitions.

You’ll hear concrete ideas for connecting with school liaisons and 4-H in your own area, and a simple first step any school, organization, or community leader can take to start building similar collaborations to support military-connected youth.

Links and resources from this episode:

• Look up the 4-H military liaison in your state: https://www.4-hmilitarypartnership.org/find-your-liaison.html
• Find a Military School Liaison near you: https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/search?program-service=12/view-by=ALL 
• Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://oneop.aweb.page/practicing-connection-newsletter
• Join our LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12879756/ 
• Send us a message: practicingconnection@oneop.org 

LinkedIn Practice:

In our latest Practicing Connection episode, we talk with Karen Watkins-Diouf, Army School Liaison at Fort Campbell, and Jeremiah Johnson, Christian County 4-H Extension Agent, about how they work together to support military-connected youth.

We explore:

• What school liaisons and county Extension/4-H educators actually do
• How a simple relationship between their roles became a strong partnership
• The ways schools, youth programs, and community organizations can collaborate with them to better serve military families

If you’re a family service provider, community leader, educator, or nonprofit professional, this conversation offers concrete ideas for strengthening your local network around military-connected kids.

Transcript

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Hi, welcome to the Practicing Connection Podcast. I'm Erin Carlson Rivera.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: And I am Jessica Beckendorf. I'm really excited for this episode because I've been learning a bit about the important role of school liaisons, as a hub and a connector in the networks of support for military families, and I'm looking forward to diving into this conversation to learn more. 

Our guests today are Karen Watkins-Diouf, Army-School Liaison at Fort Campbell's Army Child and Youth Services, and Jeremiah Johnson, Christian County Extension agent for 4-H Youth Development at the University of Kentucky.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Karen has been a dedicated Army school liaison for four years now with the Army Child and Youth Services, to expand over 25 years of CYS experience to her mission of supporting military connected families. Her journey includes roles as a teacher, curriculum specialist, and a director within Army childcare programs, when she isn't serving military families.

Karen is a published children's book author [00:01:00] and currently working on her second book.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: That's so cool. And with over a decade of experience in 4-H youth development, Jeremiah focuses on leadership, agriculture, and supporting military connected youth through programs in STEM, financial literacy and civic engagement. 

He's also a published author and a nationally recognized leader in 4-H, including receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents.

Hi, Karen and Jeremiah. Thank you so much for joining us on Practicing Connection.

KAREN WATKINS: Good morning.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: So Karen I'd love to start with you. Could you walk us through what a school liaison actually does, day to day? Because I think a lot of people might not fully understand the scope of your role, or maybe I should just speak for myself, because I don't fully understand the scope of your role. And the more I learn, the more I want to learn.

What does it look like?

KAREN WATKINS: A pretty large scope. School liaisons are located at each installation, and we are the [00:02:00] main contact for military families, local school systems. And we also work hand in hand with our command team, the installation leadership on the installation, so we work with our top commanders on the installation for school related matters. 

We're their subject matter experts for school related matters, pre-K through 12th grade. We also build partnerships with the civilian and military community to help address common education challenges that military families have. We help with school transitions, when military families are moving stateside or overseas to other schools. We contact other school liaisons to help with that school transition process. 

And we do so many other things, but school transitions are our main job. We help with deployment support, college and career readiness. We do parent and educator workshops, me and the other school liaison that I work with here. It's two of us, and I work with Laquvia Garrett. We are both Certified Master [00:03:00] Resiliency trainers. 

So we do a lot of resiliency training for military students in the schools. We work closely with counselors - military life consultants. We also work closely with the military interstate compact, the Mik 3, to make sure that schools are in compliance with military children. 

It's a lot. We do a lot every day, all day, and we work all summer.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Oh, you work all summer? 

KAREN WATKINS: Yes, planning for the next school year. And we're also before and after school programs, doing workshops and things like that for the youth.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: So Jeremiah, for listeners who might not know what a county extension educator does, can you give us a quick picture of your role in general, and then share how 4-H youth development fits into supporting the military community?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Yeah, definitely. So as a county extension agent for 4-H here in Kentucky, our role is to, in short, [00:04:00] take research-based practices and educational opportunities for families and youth in our counties from that university. And using a list of needs that our county has identified, we take those back to the county so that we're able to have the most impact and meet the needs of our county.

We cover a ton of different areas ranging from agriculture, natural resources, communications, expressive arts, healthy living, leadership, civic engagement, the list goes on. But we have a ton of different opportunities. 

At the end of the day though, it's all about that research based curriculum and resources that we have. I think that sets us apart. And allows us to have the greatest impact for families in our community when it comes to military audiences. 

We add another level to that in that you look at military families, oftentimes they're very transient, so they're moving all over all the [00:05:00] time. And extension is national.

We exist all across the country, and we are that consistency for families, for youth, so that whenever you move and you've got a kid that maybe they're in Georgia a week ago and now they're in Kentucky, 4-H can be that consistency. 

So it's a lot of similar programs. Maybe not exactly a mirror of each other, but it's a lot of similar programs for those families, and it creates that sense of consistency and belonging for those youth.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Wow, I hadn't thought about that. I've worked at Extension for a long time myself, but I can see that kind of continuity piece being really impactful, especially for young people.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Yeah, definitely.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: I wish I had known about 4-H when I was a military kid. It's funny though because my mom was really involved in 4- in Wisconsin, before she met my dad when she was a kid, [00:06:00] and when I started working for Extension and I saw all the things that 4-H does, I was like, “Mom, it's not just animals! It's all these other things. I could have joined that.” And she was like, ‘Oh yeah, I know. I used to do sewing all the time.” 

And I'm like, why didn't you tell me?!

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Right. 4-H has grown so far beyond what you traditionally expect. One of our largest areas in our county is consumer and financial education. Just basic finance for families, and who doesn't need that, whether you're a kid or an adult, like that is something that we have found that transcends generations.

But also it doesn't matter your background and which installation you're transferring from or anything like that. Like that is something that is needed.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Just before this meeting, Jeremiah, you and I talked a little bit or we were all talking a little bit about how your collaboration with Karen, or Karen, your collaboration with Jeremiah, has been [00:07:00] ongoing since you guys met on different projects.

So how did the two of you first connect, what was that initial spark that kind of brought a school liaison and an extension educator together? I mean, already we see all of the reasons why you should connect, but tell us your story. 

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: So I think what's that saying? ‘Hindsight's 2020.’ When I first started this journey, trying to find ways to partner with military youth, I didn't really know where to go. I didn't know I guess where that door was to walk in. 

And it all happened by accident. Karen and I just happened to be on a Zoom call that was talking about 4-H programs and resources that were coming out, and a new curriculum that was coming out, and it was one of those, I mean, we've all been on those Zoom calls.

Introduce yourself in the chat. And I saw her name pop up and it said, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. 

And I said, hold on a minute. So I'm immediately chatting over here, “Hey uh, Ms. Karen,[00:08:00] let's set up a meeting and talk. I'm in Christian County, I'm right here with you.” 

That's really how we met the first time.

KAREN WATKINS: Yep. And the rest is history.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Right.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Well, and I think, Jeremiah, you were mentioning that one of the things Karen was working on at the time was homeschool kids. And I guess, how did you start realizing that there's a potentially great partnership here?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I think it was after that call. I emailed Karen, we chatted, we sat down and had a meeting, and then it was one of those we already had some programming going on at Fort Campbell. It wasn't to the level it is now by any means. 

And so we talked about that, and that's when I learned a lot about what Karen's job is and how she is extremely connected with every aspect of the installation. And she had that pulse on what was going on and what was needed. And so Karen brought up the idea of homeschool [00:09:00] groups and how we serve that population.

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah. Because one of the services to include what a school liaison does is non-traditional homeschooling options for families and including homeschooling. We have a large population of homeschool families on the installation. 

And most people don't think of military families as homeschooling because we have schools on the installation. If we have an installation that has schools, you know, civilians assume, Oh, they don't do that. But no, we have a large population of homeschool families. 

But the other school liaison that I worked for, me and Mr. Revia, we were in the process of rebuilding our homeschool program to offer lots of options. And I was getting a lot of questions from parents. They would call the office and they would want resources, but the parents were asking the same questions. It was like different parents with same questions. And I'm a data person, so I'm like writing this down and I'm putting little check marks by the questions that were asked again. 

And [00:10:00] so I went to my coworker and I was like, “Hey. I’ve got a lot of homeschool parents asking a lot of the same questions, wanting resources. They want different things just for homeschool families.” 

Because you know, home school families can feel isolated, because they're kind of set apart. And so I went to her and I was like, “Why don't we have a meet and greet or something?” So then I started asking parents what they would like to have for their children? And they were like “Well, can't we have some of the same things that the schools have and things like that.’ 

So I start researching, and I'm a 4-H kid, I grew up in a rural town, and I was like, man, we should try to get some 4-H programming in. And then that's when Jeremiah, I was talking to him about it and then when he reached out to me and I was like, “Hey, how can we incorporate 4-H into our homeschool program?” 

So that's how we like really got that started because I started asking the parents and pulling the parents, “Hey, [00:11:00] would you like 4-H?” And again, that continuity of care with 4-H, it's national. Then parents were like, “Oh my gosh, I was a 4-H kid and I did this. Yes, we would love to have that.” And we didn't have that here, in our homeschool program. 

So Jeremiah and I got together and we started building it in our program.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Wow. That's great. So it sounds like you guys work pretty closely together. What do you think is the thing that really makes collaborating work for the two of you?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: We talked a lot about this the other day. I think it's just open and consistent communication.

KAREN WATKINS: Mm-hmm. I think a lot of times whenever you're trying to partner with folks, like, we both ask a lot of questions to each other about the program. You name it, we've talked about it. And it has really blown my mind.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I've learned a lot about Karen's job through that, but I've also learned a lot about the installation and what things there are. And so it's just those open lines of communication with each other [00:12:00] to better understand what all we can each offer and through discussions we were like, oh, we can join together on this project.

And so we've found some other avenues of involvement with the installation now too, because of that.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah, the more you're in contact with someone, the more opportunities and the more you think of them too, when you're like, “Oh, I wonder if Karen's thought about this before,” and then you just keep the conversation going.

It sounds like you guys have done that really well. Cross sector partnerships, and this is one of them I think, even though you guys have a lot in common, but cross-sector partnerships can be really tricky. Military and civilian organizations don't always speak the same language. What's been your approach to bridging that gap?

I hear this, by the way, from all of the cross-sector folks that I've talked to that ended up collaborating. I think this was one of the biggest things they had to overcome. “Sometimes I don't know that it was yours,” but yeah. What's your approach to bridging that?

KAREN WATKINS: So one of the things, [00:13:00] me being on the military side, there are lots of regulations. Okay. So there are lots of regulations, acronyms, you know, limits to things that I explained to Jeremiah. 

He'll say, “Karen, what about this?” And I'll be like, “Oh, well, according to article so and so regulation this, we can't do that.” So me understanding the military side of what can be done, what can't, as far as military children and installations, that helps us a lot. 

And me explaining acronyms to him, “Hey, Karen, what does that mean?” And blah, blah, blah. And then I'll explain to him. So on my side, that helps us a lot. 

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Yeah, I was definitely going to say both the military and extension love some acronyms, and none of them makes sense to anybody if you're not in that circle. 

KAREN WATKINS: Exactly.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: So it was like, we have had to sit down and be like, “What are you talking about? I don't know what this is..” or, “Oh, [00:14:00] that means this for us.”

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: And then even within organizations, and Karen, I'm not sure if this is true for the military, but within Extension, like I don't know what 4-H acronyms are and Jeremiah, I'm sure that if I told you some of the acronyms from, you know, community and economic development, you'd be like, “What?”

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Right, right.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Does that happen in the military as well, like across the silos? The acronyms are difficult.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I would say so. We talked the other day because we work with a lot of other 4-H agents that are working with other installations, and even from the different branches, school liaisons sometimes are called different titles, or they've got just school liaison officer or school liaison. So it's really knowing that branch of the military and how those positions work.

Because I'm telling you, we love some acronyms. They love some acronyms.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: What about, I want to take this in a different way [00:15:00] as well, there's the language, there's the literal language, but what about ways of working also, did you find anything that you had to navigate there?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I think it's more of a reporting piece on the backside, but again, we just call them different things.

KAREN WATKINS: Mm-hmm.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Got it.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Where the army might call it a storyboard, I'm calling it a success story. Like it's the same thing. We're highlighting what all we've done and the statistics and all that.

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah. And we do have to report that. Because the army, yeah, we have 4-H and BGCA programming in our programs, our youth programs. So it's expected of us, and then we have to show, “Okay, you're utilizing this, is it useful for you?” And things like that. 

Because the Army wants to make sure that the programming is very useful for youth. So the more we use it, the more the Army is looking into it. Like Jeremiah and I with this homeschool [00:16:00] programming, it's like it got recognized at the top, “Wow, look at what Fort Campbell's doing with homeschool.”

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Oh.

KAREN WATKINS: So that data is important. Yeah.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: That's great to hear.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: So this is either, one of you can answer or both if you both feel passionate about it, can you share a specific moment or story where you saw that your collaboration made a real difference for a military family?

KAREN WATKINS: We were talking yesterday, but I did, 'cause I have to, again, data with the Army, I have to write everything down. 

But I have a family that came for - we have to send homeschool resources. There's a process. If they're on the installation, they send a letter of intent to the superintendent. Then the superintendent just sends their name to our office and we supply them with tutor.com resources, and other things that parents are asking about. 

And I had this one parent, and Jeremiah, I don't know if you remember her, but she was at the homeschool meet and greet last September. And she sat in on the session that [00:17:00] you gave for the parents, the workshops, and she was a 4-H kid herself and things like that. 

And she sent me what we call an ice comment, where parents or patrons, on the military base, they can gripe or they can brag about an experience they had, and she put in an ice comment and it was a good one. And she was so excited about homeschool program and how helpful we were to her. 

And then she just went on and on about 4-H, and she says, “My children are going to get to experience 4-H,” you know, like she did, as a youth. So I thought that was really cool. I can think of it yesterday, Jeremiah, but yeah, she put in an ice comment.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I love it.

KAREN WATKINS: Really cool. You know you're doing the right thing when those simple things like that, when parents let you know that it was an asset to them.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I think even that day at the kickoff for homeschool families, we received a lot of comments that were [00:18:00] like, “We finally have something that we can do with our kids, and we're not left in the dark,” because so many things are just tied directly to the schools or the centers. This was something that we could just make happen.

And I will say, go back to partnerships. And those communications. When Karen came to me with the idea or the need of homeschool programming, she had already found a partnership on the installation where we were going to have access to a facility. It had gymnasiums in it. It had a computer lab, it had a kitchen. 

So we could do all the things that a traditional club would do, and have the resources there available with staff that were ready to help make it happen.

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah, our CYS sports program, shout out to Ms. Page. And she was excited about it because years ago, you know, they had some 4-H, activities going on in the building and then she was [00:19:00] like, “Oh my gosh, this would be great.” 

And so when we all met, then we just started expounding on stuff. We knew that we were having our homeschool PE. Because we have homeschool PE there, and so when we have our homeschool meet and greet on the day of the meet and greet, they sign up for homeschool PE. They get to meet the staff that's going to be working with their child. Then of course they get to meet Jeremiah and get to have a parent workshop, a 4-H parent workshop, and then they get to see my face.

It's so funny when we have the meet and greets because I only connect with them through email. So when they come to the meet and greet, they go and then they're hugging me. So the whole school is like this little, this one little community. So it's like really cool when they see me, and Ms. We are face to face, when they know us over email  all year and they finally get to see us. 

And Jeremiah and I, we're planning more things to do for the homeschool families.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: That's awesome.

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: So I know that Fort Campbell spans multiple counties and [00:20:00] states. I'm wondering, do the extension educators from those other counties, and the others in Tennessee as well, do you all get together and coordinate?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: So I've met with some of them a few separate times. So as you all are aware, every state has different extension resources. So there are some things that I do not have as much of that Tennessee might have. So they're helping out with some of those things. 

They're also doing a lot of military programs for those families that live off the installation in their community, and we keep, again, open communication with them, because we have some families that are homeschooled-associated with Fort Campbell, but maybe live on the Tennessee side. 

So we still have those conversations with those agents to keep them in the loop and work with them on providing opportunities for their families regardless of what their zip code is or where they live.

KAREN WATKINS: And [00:21:00] we make sure we invite them to the meet and greet. And we had a lot more this last time from the Montgomery County area that came to the meet and greet. Some of them come on the installation for their homeschool PE requirement and things like that. And because we have the 4-H, we're getting a lot more families coming to do the enrichment programming.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: That's great.

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah, it is.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Let's talk a little bit about the off-installation stuff. So Karen, you are available to work with any school or organization in the state that wants to support military kids. And maybe I should say military school liaisons or school liaisons are available to work with any school or organization in the state that wants to support military kids, not just those that are near the installation.

Do you get a sense that like everyone knows that, I mean, how do you get the word out about that? Because that's something that I had not heard and I had no idea.

KAREN WATKINS: We not only serve the schools wherever there are military [00:22:00] connected students, we are there for everyone. We not only serve the M post schools, but we have Clarksville, Montgomery County, and she and I split the county because it's a large county. 

And then we have Stewart County, Tri County, Todd County. So we have surrounding counties, wherever there are military connected students, we are there to offer services. So we are in those schools. 

And we really had to introduce ourselves, reintroduce ourselves when we got this job to the schools again: who we were, let them know what school we are assigned to and that we are here to assist you. And once those principals and assistant principals and counselors realize who we are and what we can offer them, but we had to put ourselves out to let them know that it's, “Wow they utilize our service.” 

And then we're in a community. We're at the autism walk. We set up information booths. We have the gold star wives festival, we set up a table there. So we are [00:23:00] out there in the community. We just finished our month of the military child fest last weekend, and Jeremiah was there. And he and I set up a table together, and there were so many parents coming in when they saw the 4-H. 

So that's how we get that word out, we have to put ourselves out there.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah. Wow.

KAREN WATKINS: We get out, and then we get invited to a lot of different things.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: If there's a school across the state that has a few military connected kids in it and they're like, “Hey, we'd like to know how we can make sure these kids feel welcomed and stuff,” is that something they can call you about?

KAREN WATKINS: Yes, because we have a program called Army Youth Sponsorship, and just like years ago, soldiers, when they would go to installation stateside or overseas, they would be assigned a sponsor for that family, and that sponsor would help that family get acclimated to the area. Help them with where to go to register for school, basic things when you move to a new place, you want to know [00:24:00].

The Army had sponsors, well now we have Army Youth Sponsorship, so we have youth sponsors for the children, yes. We train the counselors and the administration on Army Youth Sponsorship Training, explain to them how it works. They get a banner for their school. So they know that they get excited for being an Army Youth Sponsorship School, they get this big Army youth sponsorship banner. 

So when military families move and they come to a civilian school and they walk in, they go, “Oh, wow. They have an Army Youth Sponsorship program for my youth.” And it is youth driven. We train the staff and then they incorporate it in their programs. We have Purpose Star schools. Purpose Star schools are schools that are in the state that are recognized as military-friendly.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Mm-hmm. 

KAREN WATKINS:So we have Army Youth Sponsorship and we have purple star schools, and we let the administration know, “Hey, this is what we can do for you.”

 [00:25:00] The training is free. This is part of our job that we have to do. And they get recognized. We get proclamations from the mayors in Christian County and Montgomery County every year to be recognized as purple star schools and purple up day. 

JESSICA BECKENDORF: It's a whole community of support.

You know, I ask that partly because I think not a lot of people realize that military families are more spread out than we think they are. A lot of times they're not just on or right next to the installation. 

KAREN WATKINS: Right. Because they may be in a reserve unit, yeah.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yes. Reserve guard and active duty. They're more spread out than we often think. 

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Okay. I think this one is for Jeremiah, so extension educators are in nearly every county, and school liaisons are positioned near every installation. That's a really powerful alignment as you've talked about earlier.

Do you see potential for [00:26:00] that to be leveraged more broadly outside of the two of you across Kentucky, or in other places nationally? Do you think this is a type of partnership that could be duplicated in other places?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Definitely. That was something we talked about the other day. When Karen and I first met, it was just by happenstance. I did not know what her role was. I didn't know how it fit in, and I'm gonna be honest, the school liaison officer is, I don't want to say the gatekeeper, but they're the front door to the installation. They know all the connections. 

And I think if there are other extension educators out there that don't know that, it's going to be more difficult for them to build those partnerships with the installation, it's going to be more difficult for them to find those connections. And I think if they start with school liaison or school liaison officers, it opens a lot of doors for them.

And it also helps create partnerships that are meaningful because like I said earlier, Karen [00:27:00] has a pulse on the needs of Fort Campbell, so she knows where we need to help as far as programming and curriculum and specific things. And if she doesn't know, she knows who to talk to to get that answer. 

So this partnership has been very good, and it is something that can be replicated very easily elsewhere in the country. Even in Kentucky, we've got folks with our other installation, there's some active duty soldiers that are at that installation, but their kids are located four or five counties away. Because when they came back to Kentucky, the mom wanted to live with a grandparent, and it just made it simpler for the family.

You know what I mean? But the school liaison folks are still able to help that family out, even though they're not really right there next to the installation. So I think just recognizing that partnership and then on the extension side, I'm able to communicate that with some of the other extension agents so that they know that that's a good resource for them and that they can continue to build [00:28:00] partnerships there to support all kids.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that, Jeremiah, it sounds like the two of you, like you said, it was a happenstance kind of meeting. But in a way, you know, Karen, you chose to be at that meeting that day. Jeremiah, you chose to be there also. I have meetings that, or I should say Erin and I have meetings now, that we go to in our state where we get the word out about even just OneOp.

And I've been carting around some 4-H cars, because Wisconsin 4-H has had some activities going on for military families, and so I've been carting around some slides for them, and so I make sure that this information's being shared. And we've had people come up to us after meetings saying, “How have I never heard of you?”

If we don't get out there, that's not going to happen, or people aren't going to know. And so I guess where I'd like to go next with this is, maybe Karen, I'll start with you. And Jeremiah, please chime in as well. [00:29:00] 

You guys met by chance. And it's great. And now you both know so much more about the work that you all do and you can build off of that. So keeping that in mind, what do you wish more community organizations understood about how to support military families?

KAREN WATKINS: I wish they understood, first of all, that it's possible, and then the possibilities. Utilize the resources that we have. 

A lot of times when we go to schools and we tell them what's available to them, just like you said, they'll say, “Oh, I didn't know you existed!” Or they don't really take on the opportunity of utilizing the resources that we have.

And in schools we are assigned at, I wish that schools knew to utilize, when we make our visits, we have mandated visits that we have to make. So when we come in and do a visit and we say, “How can we help you? Could we help with this? Could we do this?” [00:30:00] Take advantage of that. 

I just don't think schools realize the advantages and the bridge that school liaisons have. We don't want to come in just when there's issues or problems, or when a parent comes in and wants us to help resolve an issue with their child's education. 

So we really want them to know that we are there to help with other things too. Really positive things, yeah.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Yeah, and I, backing that up, honestly simply put, it's easy to partner. I think as a community partner, sometimes when you think of military installations, you know, there's regulations, there's rules, there's specific things you have to follow. And I think for some partners they think about that and they're like, “I just don't have time. I can't make this work.” 

And that's where Karen comes in. She already knows those policies, she knows the connection, she knows all of that. So [00:31:00] Karen and school liaison officers are able to put your fears at ease, but also say, “Here's the things, here's the areas we can focus on. Here's the resources we need,” and really open those doors.

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah, the support is easy. I really want them to know that it's simple. The support is so easy and we're so willing. Our command team on the installation, our garrison commander, our command Sergeant Major, they want to help. 

We have a meeting every year called the start meeting. It's a strategic meeting where all of the local superintendents and school directors come in and they express the needs that they have, and they talk about what's going good and what's not going good in the schools. 

So our command, our Army command is very interested, and want to help support not only our military connected students, but our military community, our community as a whole. They just need to see how easy it could be and how helpful it could be, that's what I wish they [00:32:00] knew.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Well, at the end of the day, it's about supporting kids and the families, and so how awesome it is that there are so many people out there that want to do this. And I would say extension and the school liaisons, the more I learn about the school liaisons, you guys both make it easy to partner.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: We try to. The CYS folks at Fort Campbell are absolutely amazing, and Karen has been that gateway to make it happen and just to have those open discussions about partnerships and things, it's been wonderful.

KAREN WATKINS: Fort Campbell is pretty cool.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I agree.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: You're not at all biased though!

KAREN WATKINS: Great leadership. We have great leadership though, you know, our leadership is awesome,

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Yeah.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: Yeah.

Okay. I have one final question. I often hear this idea, and I think probably both of you can answer this, but I'll probably start with Jeremiah and then Karen, you can do the follow up. But I often hear this [00:33:00] idea that the military takes care of their own, and then there's this silent addendum of, “Oh, so we don't have to care about it.”

And I am curious what would you say to people who don't conceptualize military families as being a part of their community?

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: I look at it as I serve everyone in my community, period. It doesn't matter about background or anything like that. We're here to serve our entire community, and I do think the military provides a lot of wonderful resources for their families, but we also have additional resources for them.

But part like Ms. Karen said earlier, part of some of the requirements for the installation is they have to have extension and 4-H programming there. So yes, they provide for families, but we are part of that. We're providing that piece for them, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And it helps us serve all youth, period.

KAREN WATKINS: And like our youth, like you said, the programming is through that programming.

When me and Ms. Laquvia, when we go [00:34:00] into public schools and we do resiliency programming, that's not just for military connected students. So we touch everyone. Yes, it's for everyone. 

So when we do these things, just like youth sponsorship, when we go in and we train counselors and administrators in schools on youth sponsorship, that programming, it touches every student. So it doesn't matter who moves to that new school, they're still going to have a youth sponsorship team of youth welcoming them and something like that. So our programming, what we do, our services, what we do for the military community, it serves all youth.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Mm-hmm.

KAREN WATKINS: We happen to be there because of the military, but our programming and what's so awesome about it, it spills over into the community.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: That's wonderful. That's wonderful. I mean, creating places that people can feel like they [00:35:00] belong includes, you know, including everyone in that discussion. 

If there's an organization or a school that wanted to make sure they were supporting their military families, whether that school is, across the state from the nearest installation or right next to the nearest installation, what's the first step you would tell them to take?

And this could be for either one of you. Maybe I'll start with you, Karen. Of course.

KAREN WATKINS: Start with me.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: Start with the - so even if they're across the state, they should contact the liaison at the nearest installation. Okay.

KAREN WATKINS: Because even if they contact me from another state, I can contact another school liaison in that state.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: So everyone contact Karen!

KAREN WATKINS: Yeah, Yeah. You know, I can connect them with the school leads. And that's what we do for our soldiers when they're moving and they fill out paperwork and say, “Hey, I'm moving to Alabama.” And we’re [00:36:00] like, “Oh, okay, I got that.” They fill out paperwork, I get all their information. I send that transition referral to the school liaison in Alabama, and that's how that works.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Yeah, definitely your first stop should be to call your school liaison office. I will add that is one area that we communicate the same on. There is a national network of 4-H military liaisons, and every state has one point of contact. So if you're on the school liaison side and you're wondering how to get in touch with 4-H and you don't have that local connection yet, simply do an internet search and you will find a searchable database by state of 4-H liaisons, and they can connect you with the local folks or they can help you work through that and how to have that partnership. 

So the word of the day is liaison, whether it's school liaison or the 4-H one, but it will get you to the right direction.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: [00:37:00] Thank you so much for joining us, Karen and Jeremiah. I have really learned a lot about the school liaisons, and I would love to talk with more of them. So, Karen, I'm going to call you since you're the first point of contact for school liaisons. 

Thank you so much for joining us, both of you.

JEREMIAH JOHNSON: Thank you for having us.

ERIN CARLSON RIVERA: That's it for this episode. Thank you so much for joining us. If you've enjoyed today's episode, click the share button in your podcast app to share it with a friend.

JESSICA BECKENDORF: We'd like to thank our announcer Kaylyn Gobel, Maggie Lucas, and Joyce Fond for their help marketing and Nathan Grim, who composed and performed all the music you hear on the podcast. We hope you'll listen again soon. 

Until then, keep practicing.

[00:38:00]

CREDITS: The Practicing Connection Podcast is a production of One-Op and is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture and the Office of Military Family Readiness Policy, US Department of Defense under award number 2 0 2 3 4 8 7 74 3 3.