Meg Roussos / The BulletinMichelle Kochosky, the Oregon National Guard’s state family programs director, speaks during the 2014 Oregon State Youth Symposium in Redmond on Sunday. The Oregon Military Teen Panel is one program that aids teens with a deployed parent.

EAGLE CREST — Brooke Blythe, 15, of Bend, is dealing with deployment for the first time.

Her dad, Spc. Jesse Blythe, 31, deployed with the Oregon Army National Guard 1-82 Cavalry Squadron in June and isn’t expected to return until July 2015. To help her cope with his deployment, she joined the Oregon Military Teen Panel and has recently completed her first year.

“It’s a very rough time to go through. There’s so many adjustments in such a short period of time,” said Brooke, a sophomore at Mountain View High School . “Helping other kids get their mind off (deployment) helps me too.”

The Teen Panel is a federally funded program under the National Guard’s service member and family support division. Since the panel was created in 2010, it has blossomed to 14 kids representing all seven regions of Oregon. Their purpose? Connecting with other military kids and helping to bridge the gap between service members, their families and their children.

“We’re giving these teens the ability to speak to their peers in a way that enhances the teen who does the counseling (by) giving them empathy skills and listening skills, as well as the one who receives it,” said Terry Larkin, 59, Oregon National Guard chaplain and service member and family support director.

The panel, along with other military kids and their families, gathered at Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond over the weekend for the 2014 Oregon State Youth Symposium sponsored by the Oregon National Guard. The theme, “Because Together is Better,” signified the weekend’s team-building activities, including tackling low-ropes courses and learning about military culture at Biak Training Center near Powell Butte, and creating artwork with purpose statements based on lessons from the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens.”

“A lot of the kids feel very isolated and maybe even slightly resentful toward the military because they don’t have an understanding of military culture or it’s taken their parents away,” said Amy Conroy, 34, airman and family-readiness manager for the Oregon National Guard. “So when they come to events like this, it becomes a totally different perspective of what the military can do.”

According to Conroy and Michelle Kochosky, state family program director, the panel steps in where many Oregon schools don’t — it provides a simpler way for military kids to connect with one another through youth-oriented programming.

“Oregon does not currently, within the school system, have a way for families to self-identify, so in the school structure there’s not a lot of intentional support for families,” Conroy said. “Kids could be going to school with other military kids and they wouldn’t know it.”

“It’s up to the individual school districts on how (or) if they implement, and there’s probably five across the entire state that have any type of formalized curriculum or activity or support club,” Kochosky, 36, added. “We underestimate how many schools are willing to help that probably don’t know or have never thought to ask; a lot of teachers are willing to help if we just encourage them.”

As members of the panel, teens serve two-year terms, meet once quarterly and participate in monthly conference calls. They also do community service work in Oregon and Idaho and plan annual youth and family events such as the State Youth Symposium, Month of the Military and Young Leaders’ Conference.

Brooke helps organize conference calls between panel members and also contributes to an advice column published in a monthly newsletter to youth and families. She said she plans to work harder in her final year as a teen panel member and try to encourage other Central Oregon military kids to apply.

“It depends on the person, but if they were really good at speaking in front of people, inspirationally, and good with kids, I would recommend it,” Brooke said. “It’s given me a lot of leadership and amazing opportunities that the average kid may not get. It’s helped me mature and become the person I want to be.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2117,mwarner@bendbulletin.com