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American Morning

Perspective From Camp Pendleton

Aired November 09, 2001 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: On the road again with Leon Harris for his coast-to-coast journey, surveying the spirit of America. Today he's made it to the other coast -- Camp Pendleton, California, the final stop. He joins us from an elementary school.

Awfully early there; those kids are up and already learning, right Leon?

LEON HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're up -- no, they're not learning; the kids are here teaching this morning. They've been teaching me quite a bit. And you're right, it is awfully early. These kids were good enough to get up here at 5:00 in the morning their time to come join us this morning here on the marine base here at Camp Pendleton.

And we're going to introduce our family here this morning because -- we're talking to children, and we're also talking to teachers, because teachers, in many cases, spend more times with kids than the parent do. And with all the changes that people's lives have been going through in the past few weeks, we thought we'd get some insight from those who have had to deal with this at a different level -- seeing parents go overseas.

Joining us here this morning at the school here on the base is -- we have Sarah Straud (ph) here at the top left. And we've got Betsy Wilcox (ph) in the middle. And we've got Judy Kaptaso (ph) on the end.

Now, down below here, we go to the bottom row, we've Lindsay Rickman (ph). We've got her teacher, Nancy Martineli. And on the end here we have Ariel Loya (ph), who is basically going to be the star of stage and screen in a couple of years here. We'll talk about that later.

But listen, we've been chatting this morning about the changes that you deal with, you know, as teachers and as kids. Now -- I'm sorry, Ariel, your dad is overseas right now, right?

Now how did you talk to him? What did you guys talk about before he left? Did he help you get that in your mind, that he's going to be gone for a while?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: But he left August 13 before this even happened, so... HARRIS: Oh, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We didn't really talk about it.

HARRIS: Yes? Now, have you talked, Lindsey, to your dad about the possibility that he may have to go? What's that like?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Like, he says that if he does get called up, then he's just going to go.

HARRIS: Just going to go? How does that make you feel, to hear your dad has just got to go?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Well, that's why he joined the Marines.

HARRIS: So you understand it. You understand, and you're proud of that, from what see. From what I've been hearing this morning, the two of you are very proud of your dads.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes.

HARRIS: Well ladies, you deal with kids that have to go through that at home. Do they bring that with them to the classroom?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They do. I know at North Terrace one of the things that we're trying to do to provide support for the kids is some counseling support through the base for those who are showing some signs of anxiety, or sadness, or distraction.

HARRIS: I would imagine you see that quite a bit?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do, but it's really incredible how determined the kids are and how focused they are still staying. But for those who need it, we want to give them that support.

HARRIS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's important for us, at our school, to provide a safe place, a safe secure place; making the children really feel that our classrooms are a place where they can get their emotions out and really just have a fun time, and to kind of get away from the idea that mom might be leaving, or dad might be leaving.

HARRIS: You know, we've got girls here with us this morning. Is there a difference between the way girls and boys handle this sort of thing, and handle the deployment when it happens to their family?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that they do as well.

HARRIS: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I think that they're -- they're aware of what's going on. They've talked it over with parents, and we talk about it in class in different ways. They're allowed to express their feelings. And they're all very, very proud of what's going on, and they take it day to day, and they do a good job of it. We have some great kids that just -- that really stay focused.

HARRIS: Yes. And you know, speaking of day -- taking things day to day, Nancy, you've been telling us about these different changes to the curriculum you've been engaged in here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When September 11 happened -- every year -- I've been teaching fifth grade now for seven years, and every year I try to get our students to buy into U.S. history, because that's a part of our curriculum for social studies. And it's sometimes hard for the kids to really get excited about something that happened 200 years ago; and that's what we focus on.

So this year, September 11 really proved that focus for the students. I had my students write about their feeling; we talked a lot about it. I had them write a story that they can share with their grandchildren 30 years from now...

HARRIS: Just because you...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What they were doing on September 11 and how they felt about it, because I think it's probably the most historical thing that will ever happen to them.

HARRIS: Yes, so how do you -- what do you do to manage the pressure, you know, that builds up from things like this? When children come to class, and they're going through this sort of thing at home, and you have no idea what's going through their minds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think humor is a big part of it; that we have to have humor with it. Maybe not that specific incident, but to find humor in other things so that we can be together in a lighter way, because it is such a heavy issue for the kids.

HARRIS: Lindsey and Ariel, when your friends have their moms or dads sent out, do they -- do you guys all get together and talk about things like that, or are you kind of shy, or are you scared to share?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Not really. We don't really talk about them. We usually just get our mind off of them somehow.

HARRIS: really?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Just by talking about different things.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... an assembly where all of the students were together from K through five, and it was wonderful to see the kids being able to share their fielding and understand that they have the common joys and the common concerns that a kindergartener has and a fifth grader has, and for all of the kids to be able to share that. And I think it was a wonderful experience for them.

HARRIS: You know -- I'm glad you mentioned the different age groups because, Sarah, your classes are third graders. You all, the rest -- and you two are fifth graders, and you're fifth-grade teachers. Is there a difference between the age groups or, you know, a significant difference that changes the way you can approach them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think that there is a difference, but I also think that the younger the children are, like with third graders, they're more -- they need to deal with things in a different way. Like, for example, at our school we did -- we have buddy classes, buddy reading classes, and our third-grade class reads with the kindergarten class. And so one thing that we did together was we stuck our hands in red paint and we made a flag with our handprints. And then with the stars, each of the children cut out a star, a white star, and they drew their picture in that star so that they kind of felt like, you know, I am an American and I have a place. And so they do -- we do many different things for them to connect and...

HARRIS: That's great. Well, let's end up with the kids here. Now, your dad is already overseas. Lindsey, your day may go.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes.

HARRIS: What do you do now? Do you take each day one at a time and, I guess, treat him extra special because you just don't know what's going to happen down the road?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, sometimes.

HARRIS: Yes; all right. Well, listen, you're very special, and so are you. Thank you very much for coming in and talking to us. And we'll see how your stage career turns out. You're making your debut this evening, I understand, in "Little Mermaid."

Thanks all for coming in. We appreciate it; we know it's early.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

HARRIS: And that's going to wrap up our coast-to-coast tour here at Camp Pendleton just outside of San Diego. And it's now back to you Miles. And I guess I'll see you from Atlanta.

O'BRIEN: All right, Leon. That was an excellent road trip. We appreciate you sharing some opinions from the people who really count out there. And we're not talking about, Leon, by the way. We're talking about the...

HARRIS: Thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, don't take it personally.

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