New MCLB-Albany partnership with a DCSS elementary school pairs Marine mentors with classrooms

ALBANY – Teachers at International Studies Elementary Charter School (ISECS) in Albany got to meet their newest classroom mentors from Albany’s Marine Corps Logistics Base Thursday. 

About 30 Marine mentors are paired with 23 classrooms at the school through the newly formed local “Adopt a School” program, a community outreach initiative through which military units partner with local schools to volunteer their time and expertise, helping students with tutoring, mentoring, and participating in school events. Marine mentors will be inside classrooms at a minimum of once every two weeks throughout the entire school year. 

“We joined the Marine Corps because we wanted to serve our country, and this is our opportunity to serve this community,” Col. Matthew McKinney, MCLB-Albany’s base commander, said. “This is the Marines’ opportunity to volunteer and give back while also getting the opportunity to meet some folks from the community.” 

ISECS Principal John Davis said the school has historically served military families because of its proximity to the base. McKinney’s son is a fourth-grader at the school. 

“This partnership strengthens our relationship that already exists,” Davis said. “It’s going to propel us not just in terms of mentoring kids … but also in the curricular, learning and safety aspect.”

Davis said the list of what the mentors will do is “endless,” from reading with kids, supporting small groups, providing incentives and even just hanging out during recess. He said the school and MCLB leaders have explored ideas to have the students visit the Albany base more regularly. 

“If you’re teaching a fourth- or fifth-grade unit, and you bring them onto the base to see where they train … it just makes it a whole different experience than reading something in the text,” Davis said. 

McKinney said the program an opportunity for the base to better connect with the Albany community. 

“It creates exposure for the people in Albany who don’t know the Marines,” he said. “After 9/11, and we started being more restrictive with security, bases aren’t open to the public regularly. So this is our opportunity to engage with the community.” 

McKinney said the program, in turn, benefits Marines who are often away from home and in a new community for the first time when they arrive at MCLB-Albany. He said this mentor program will give them a family away from home. 

“It’s a challenge for young Marines,” he said. “They’re not immune to loneliness and missing their families. This is their opportunity to engage with younger kids and put into perspective that what they’re doing every day means something to even the smallest Americans.” 

Davis said the Dougherty County School System’s support for military families is second to none, and ISECS is always ready for new opportunities to strengthen that support. 

A tenet of the DCSS strategic plan is family and community engagement, and this new partnership with MCLB-Albany is the first major partnership since the COVID-19 pandemic that brings mentors onto campus at this scale. 

While the teachers got to meet their mentors Thursday, Davis said it will be a surprise for students. 

“I think the Marines are excited to engage with the kids, and we really look forward to the opportunity to give something back to the community,” McKinney said. 

The Marine mentors volunteered to be a part of the program, and McKinney said he expects volunteer numbers to grow.