In the past few years, Wisconsin has seen some of the largest military troop deployments in the state’s history. On the next television broadcast of Teen Connection, a panel of teens and adult experts will discuss how these deployments affect the lives of family members – especially children – back at home.

Laura Pettersen, the assistant director of Wisconsin Operation Military Kids program will appear on the program’s panel along with youth affected by parental deployments overseas. Together, they will discuss issues faced by teens who are maintaining their regular lives’ schedules of schoolwork, family and activities while managing the stresses of having a parent or guardian in harm’s way overseas.

Wisconsin Operation Military Kids director Sue Curtis will discuss how the program – a partnership between Wisconsin’s 4-H Youth Development and the National Guard – supports children of deployed parents through camps, special weekend activities, an educational comic book series and a new in-school curriculum program.

“This is a really important program for our state right now because we’re experiencing the largest deployment in the state’s history since World War II,” Curtis said. “So it’s a critical time for us to reach out to the kids because we have so many that have a parent deployed right now.”

Another group of youth members from the Wisconsin National Guard Youth Advisory Board will appear in pre-taped interviews discussing their experiences.

Other topics that will be covered in the live call-in program include how teens from military families manage interactions with peers who might not understand their situations, the reactions they receive from teachers and counselors, and what kinds of support options they have to turn to when their parents are deployed.

Toll-free phone service is provided by Nsight Long Distance.

Host Kathryn Bracho appears courtesy of WBAY-TV/Green Bay.

WPT is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and theUniversity of Wisconsin-Extension.