FORT CAVAZOS, Texas — Child and Youth Services teens met with installation leaders March 20 at Comanche Youth Center on Fort Cavazos for the annual Teen Chain of Communication event.
The event provides teens an opportunity to speak directly to installation leadership and offer insight on a variety of issues impacting young adults on post and in the community.
Greta Buccellato, Fort Cavazos deputy to the garrison commander; Dr. Peter Craig, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare & Recreation director; Sheila Curtis, chief of Fort Cavazos CYS; and Keshia Gray, youth and school aged administrator for Fort Cavazos CYS, listened as teens representing Bronco, Comanche, High Chaparral and Montague Youth Centers, spoke about issues that impact how they learn, interact on post and socialize outside the installation.
“It’s honestly the best thing of the year for me,” Buccellato expressed. “Every time I get their concerns, and after I hear from them, I go back to my office and I bring the team together and say, ‘How are we going to solve these concerns? How are we going to get after them?’
“Last year, the three concerns they raised, we were able to solve within the year, and so all of their issues this year are new, which is exciting to me, that we’ve solved the issues from last year, and now we’re moving on to new issues,” she added.
Gray said part of the process for solving issues is being proactive.
“There are some things that we just don’t like about our schools, about our communities and about our youth programs,” she said. “But, instead of being the people that are always just going to be complaining about something, we are the people that come up with solutions.”
The process began with students voting on a variety of concerns that impact the way they live and learn, narrowing the list to issues they felt impacted them the most in school, at youth centers and in the community, before presenting their concerns with recommendations to resolve them.
Sixteen-year-old Isabelle Jundi, the 2025 Fort Cavazos Military Youth of the Year, spoke to installation leadership about littering, the lack of age-appropriate spaces and amenities and unsecured pets roaming the community.
She recommended transforming abandoned spaces into safe, youth-friendly places to hang out, placing more trash cans throughout the community, implementing fines for littering and having a greater presence of animal control.
“I feel this forum is very important, because without it, a lot of the new things that have been implemented with Child and Youth Services wouldn’t exist,” Jundi said.
“I hope that the issues, not just the category that I have, but all the other kids that are presenting today, I really hope our issues can be taken and used to benefit our communities, schools and center environments,” she added.
Zoey Green, 16, addressed better snack options, reliable Wi-Fi at the youth centers and starting a youth center volleyball league.
She recommended having ready-to-go snacks available, using Wi-Fi boosters and researching how to start a volleyball league.
CYS leadership encouraged teens to participate in surveys to ensure their snack preferences are documented and assured the group that they are on board with starting a volleyball league.
Although Wi-Fi reliability has improved, there is still a process to reach the standard students require for homework and other tasks, Gray explained.
“I know you can’t imagine it, and obviously we’re not where you want to be, because the issue is still one of our issues,” she said to the teens. “But I need you to know there was a point in time where there was no Wi-Fi in these buildings, in any of our facilities, but it was through this that we were able to get Wi-Fi. It’s a process that works. It really does.”
David McNeal, 13, agreed, adding he is optimistic about implementing change over time.
“It would take some time, as it can’t happen overnight,” he said. “There is a process to it, and I’m willing to go through the process to make it happen.”
McNeal spoke about peer pressure, bullying and violence in schools.
He recommended creating a campaign to stop peer pressure and incentives to encourage participation, faster and intentional responses to bullying incidents, mandatory after school bullying intervention with a parent and having a larger police presence on campus and in hallways.
“(The event) is super important because there are people that were here who could make a change to those situations for the better, and I felt like those situations needed to be addressed and maybe they could actually hear us out and do something about it,” McNeal said.
Buccellato agreed.
“It’s critically important for all members of our community, and in particular our youth, to be connected with us,” she said. “To be connected, not only with their schools and their teen centers, but with the broader community on the installation. And so, for the garrison team to be here supporting the teens in expressing and raising their issues, to me, it’s probably the most important thing we do is hearing and understanding their concerns so we can address their concerns.”
Buccellato will collaborate with several entities, to include Cavalry Family Housing, Killeen Independent School District and Fort Cavazos Directorate of Emergency Services to address the concerns and strategize solutions.
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