PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. (Jan. 13, 2026) - Service members from the Presidio of Monterey volunteered to mentor and play sports with students at George C. Marshall Elementary School Jan. 9, 2026, as a part of a new PoM Child & Youth Services school volunteer program.

Blanca Felix, the school liaison officer for the U.S. Army Garrison PoM, regularly meets with local school administrators and recently learned that staff at Marshall Elementary School might benefit from additional positive role models during recess times at the school. Felix started a weekly volunteer program during the 2025-2026 school year that gives service members the opportunity to provide that mentorship and encourage respectful play.

"We wanted to bring the service members in to help discourage disruptive behavior and to help with boredom," Felix said. "The kids were a little shy in the beginning but now ask about the military members every week and look forward to them joining recess on Fridays."

Most PoM service members are students at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and some have time between military training blocks to pursue personal development goals. The service members that visited Marshall Elementary held a shared desire to help local children.

"I always loved when older kids would come visit me in school when I was growing up and I wanted to give back to the kids here," said Lance Cpl. Ava Rose Quinn, an Arabic language student at DLIFLC.

Quinn said her favorite moment of the day was helping a student in a bad mood cheer up and join the rest of his classmates on the soccer field.

The elementary school volunteer program is scheduled to continue through the 2026 school year. Other PoM CYS community building events include school cleanups, mentorship events and sports days.

Felix and the rest of the team at PoM CYS are committed to helping military families thrive at school during their time at PoM. She can be reached with any school-related questions at 831-242-7197or [email protected].