"I was born in Virginia, lived there for two years, then moved to Minnesota, and then we moved on to Oklahoma, then we moved to Washington, and then Hawaii and then out here," says Timothy Godding.
He spent the first three years of high school in Hawaii, and arrived in Columbia a couple of weeks ago to gear up for his senior year of high school at Richland Northeast.
"You go to a new school and you try to figure out where the new places are to hang out," says Godding.
He says it's an adjustment each time he has to go to a new school.
"You go to one school and you are there for three years and it's high school so you grow a lot more bond with people and everything. So then, it's when you go to another high school you are trying to butt in on all these other people that have been there for three years, and you are trying to get into the new groups and everything like that."
"Lots of different time zones," laughs Timothy's mother Melanie Godding.
She says moving around has forced her and her husband to learn to adjust. They've tried to teach that to all three of their children.
"I had never moved until I married my husband so at first it was really hard to get used to changing all the time, learning to be flexible. And that's what I've learned, to be flexible, and deal with the cards you're given. And you have to be adventurous."
Timothy tries to have that attitude about it too.
"It's fun, and you get to see a lot of new places and everything like that," he says.
Most military institutions offer liaisons to help new students. With each new school, kids have to make sure they are meeting graduation requirements so they can earn a high school diploma, as every state's high school requirements are different.
The Student 2 Student program is one that is available at Richland Northeast High School, Ridgeview High School, Bythewood High School. To learn more about this, visit http://www.militarychild.org/files/pdfs/BRS2S.pdf
South Carolina has not yet adopted the Interstate Compact, but 10 states have done so. This is in an effort to help students have a more uniform transition when they are moving around as part of a military family. To learn more about this, visit http://www.csg.org/programs/ncic/documents/RESOURCEKIT-January2008final.pdf
To learn more about the Military Child Education Coalition, visit http://www.militarychild.org/
An event at Richland Northeast High School on Thursday, August 14, 2008 will help to welcome military families to the school.
It is an open house in the Richland Northeast Media Center from 5:30-6:30pm. You can learn more by calling 751.6150 or by emailing info@rnh.richland2.org.
8/12/2008 5:58:45 PM
