MCEC 360 Summits

The MCEC 360 Summit is a community-wide, multi-faceted event that can be brought to your area with ideas, programs and opportunities for serving military-connected children and families.

The 360 Summit brings insight and understanding for the unique challenges and needs of military-connected students, plus tools to help address issues associated with a military lifestyle. The 360 model includes components for students, parents, and youth-serving professionals.

An MCEC 360 Summit is tailored to the needs of each community and offers the following options for each component:

For Professionals:

Professional Development for educators, administrators, and other youth-serving professionals in healthcare, childcare, business, and other areas on the challenges military-connected children face. All MCEC training is research-based and presented by highly-qualified instructors.

Up to 3 sessions can be selected (total of 6 hours) and 6 hours of CE credit is available upon completion.

MCEC 360 Summits can also introduce schools, districts, and communities to the benefits of becoming a Purple Star School (PSS) – and how to earn or sustain this worthwhile designation. PSS criteria are tailored state-by-state to identify and nurture schools to be truly “military friendly.”

View/Download list of available professional development topics.

For Students:

Two options are available:

1. Initial Student 2 Student (S2S) Training (5 hours)
   S2S is MCEC’s peer-to-peer mentoring program for elementary, middle, and high schools. An S2S program shows students their new campus and community. The team plans fun ways for new students to get to know other students, build new peer groups, and perform better academically while creating a culture of 100% acceptance on their campus.
2. S2S Sustainment Training (5 hours)
   Our S2S Sustainment Trainings are designed to provide established S2S teams additional training to grow and develop their S2S team even further. 

Program sponsors and students attend these sessions together, and up to 5 hours of CE credit is available upon completion.

Click here to learn more about S2S.

For Parents:

Designed for parents to participate with their children, several options are available (1.5-2 hours):

1. Tell Me A Story
   Tell Me A Story® (TMAS) is a family literacy event geared toward children ages 4-12. The mission of the program is to empower military-connected children by using literature and their own stories in a way that fosters resilience, strong peer and parent connections, and a sense of pride and accomplishment. Each family takes home a copy of the book that is featured to add to their home library.
   View/download TMAS book options.
    
2. Speedometry
   MCEC partnered with Mattel to bring STEM learning to families through Hot Wheels® Speedometry. Featuring Hot Wheels cars, tracks, and more, kids gain experience evaluating and interpreting data using the concepts of physics. This program is designed for family participation and is ideal for kids in middle school. Modifications can be made for younger students.
   Learn more about Speedometry here.
    
3. Together We Code
   Together We Code (TWC) is a series of workshops designed to encourage families to learn introductory coding concepts, increase awareness of resources for learning at home, and understand the importance of computational thinking. Participants learn to think creatively, reason systematically, solve problems, and work collaboratively with parents and peers. This workshop is ideal for families with students in grades 3-7.
   *Not suitable for large groups. Available with appropriate technology facility and support.
   More information about Together We Code can be found here.
    
4. Parent Support Workshops
   MCEC offers enrichment workshops for parents that empower them to be their child’s best advocate with research-informed information, practical solutions, and strategies for parents with children of all ages. Encouraging and strengthening parent-child engagement helps equip parents to navigate the challenges and realities they will face in their family’s military life.
   View/download the list of available workshops.