MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- As everyone grows up they run into obstacles and have to figure ways around them. The students of Condor Elementary School received some hints to help them along the way during an assembly Feb. 1, 2011.
“It is called the, ‘With you all the way tour,’ and what we are really doing is helping kids deal with stuff on a daily basis,” said Trevor Romain, the founder of the Trevor Romain Co. “Military kids with moving, new schools, parents going on deployment, parents coming home, bullying. All the kinds of issues they are facing, we put together to give them a little hint and help.”
Stephanie Pridell, a speaker with the Trevor Romain Co., said Romain had a way to get a wide range of reactions from the children and with his goofy approach.
“I use humor to endear the kids,” Romain said. “Have them relax, settle and open up and I tell them some very pointed stories [and], hard hitting stories. To see them open up and appreciate those stories, it makes such a difference, and I think that it is important to have kids express their feelings. Whether they are angry or sad. It is OK to be angry or sad, as long as you express what you are feeling that is critically important.”
Paul Gadduso, the principal of Condor Elementary, was very pleased with the presentation and the students’ response to Romain.
“They are very perceptive,” Gadduso said. “In this case I think Trevor did a great job connecting with the students and the students realized that they do have a lot in common with each other, with their classmates and the children across the school. They probably share a lot of the same feelings, emotions, and I think that assemblies such as these, help them realize that.”
Romain said that even though this is helpful information for all ages of children, there was a special reason he focused on elementary school students.
“The foundation is being laid in elementary school,” Romain said. “People say bullying really starts in middle to high school. If we can give the kids the tools in the lower grades to understand what they need to do to stop behaviors, how to take care of themselves, when they get to those higher grades they’ve got a foot up.”
Romain is always looking for feedback and suggestions from the students on what he can do better.
“Kids have given us a lot of suggestions and some of the suggestions Trevor mentioned in the presentation are from kids that have emailed our web site,” Pridell said.
For more information on the Trevor Romain Co., visit http://www.trevorromain.com or send email with your stories/suggestions to We care@trevorromain.com.