Neill helps tutor students at Dahlgren School.

The minds in question – those belonging to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade middle school students – are traditionally some of the toughest to capture, motivate, and inspire, too, even for experienced teachers. Yet, for one Marine, Staff Sgt. Daryl C. Neill of the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC), it looks easy, according to a school teacher who knows him best, Kathryn Walseman.

‘‘He’s a master at asking questions and helping students understand what they already know,” Walseman said. ‘‘The whole idea of the tutorial is for tutors to encourage the questioning process. The discussion goes from the mundane to the sophisticated where you get students thinking about the critical topics.”

Apparently, Neill’s aptitude to inspire students to grasp the bigger picture is paying off, according to those who work most closely with him. ‘‘He’s got a really good rapport,” said Amy Daily, a part-time teacher who works with the AVID program. ‘‘He’s not afraid to challenge and ask hard questions and get kids thinking. He doesn’t underestimate their ability to think. He has high expectations for them.”

Walseman also echoed similar sentiments. ‘‘It’s hard to believe that he doesn’t have a degree in education,” said Walseman. ‘‘I’ve encouraged him once he leaves the Marines to go into school administration.”

Neill’s efforts as a volunteer at the base school have influenced the mentoring program used at the school – Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). He developed a form that students use to help them achieve better grades that the national AVID office picked up following a recent inspection tour and has since applied nationwide, according to Walseman.

‘‘Daryl was totally the brains behind it,” Walseman said. ‘‘It’s quick and easy and they were very impressed with it. Daryl showed the kids how to be accountable as a group and that’s what the kids hadn’t seen before. What’s really great is that at the bottom of the form, the kids have a chance to write their feedback.”

Neill explained that students use the form not only to express their satisfaction, but also their anxieties and frustrations as well. ‘‘Kids don’t seem to like confrontation,” Neill said, ‘‘So, giving them that form sometimes makes it easier to know what is necessary to improve the group’s dynamic.”

Neill now spends two afternoons at the school a week helping the students with their subjects. More than a tutor, he encourages students to see the broader picture by asking tough questions.

‘‘Kids aren’t really encouraged by today’s education system to question systems,” Neill said. ‘‘Everything is memorization and regurgitation. I work with them to get them asking really hard to answer questions that require intuition and imagination to work out.”

Ironically, however, Neill was by his own admission was an ‘‘awful student.” Yet, he was eager to give back, seeing tutoring as a way to expose students to the military, and started volunteering soon after reporting to JWAC in April 2006.

‘‘It gives me a chance to put a face on the ‘warfighter’,” Neill said, ‘‘And considering that the wars we’re fighting at the moment are wars most easily lost in public opinion, I really think it is important.”

In addition to his regular volunteer duties at the school, Neill has also helped with the school’s Garden Club, the dunking tank at the annual end-of-the-year school carnival, and as a judge in the spelling bee, which Walseman described as a ‘‘really stressful job that nobody wants.”

‘‘He’ll do anything we ask him to do,” Walseman said. ‘‘I’ve see him spend an hour organizing a student’s book bag. He’s helped out on the weekend.”

That comes as no surprise to his immediate supervisor at JWAC, Navy Cmdr. David D. Sullins. ‘‘SSgt Neill is one of the most professional people I have encountered in my military career,” he said. ‘‘That includes officer, enlisted, and civilian. He epitomizes respect for the greater good, for others, and for himself.”

Unlike most school volunteers, however, Neill does not fit the typical profile. He is not a parent of any of the students at the school nor do he and his wife Laura have any kids themselves. So, what motivates him to keep returning week after week?

‘‘I’d be lying if I said that I don’t get a sense of satisfaction from it,” Neill said. ‘‘The kids have a lot of potential and spending time with them sort of fills up the ‘motivation tank’ for future deployments. I think the most rewarding aspect has been having a chance to watch the kids develop throughout a school year.”

The goal of the AVID program is to encourage middle school students to start thinking about attending college. ‘‘It is aimed at first generation college students,” Walseman said. In fact, 94 percent of AVID students eventually enroll in college compared to just 35 percent of all other students. Nearly half of the Dahlgren School’s middle school students are enrolled in AVID, according to Walseman.

‘‘They are socialized to the idea of getting good grades,” Walseman said. ‘‘AVID shows them how to get there. A lot of middle school students aren’t thinking about those things. There aren’t a lot of kids in middle school who can think past next weekend versus what they’ll be doing in six years.”

In addition to being tutored and mentored, AVID students have opportunities to visit area colleges. Dahlgren’s students have been to the University of Mary Washington, the U.S. Naval Academy, and St. Mary’s College, according to Walseman.

Neill’s work has not gone unnoticed. Hel has been recognized for his work both at the school and at JWAC. The former Dahlgren School principal, Stephen Hovanic, nominated him for the Military Unit⁄Commander Excellence Award in 2008 for his commitment to the program, his willingness to serve as a role model to the students through his professionalism, conduct, speech, and dress, his involvement with school activities, and his successful adoption of the AVID tutorial model.

Neill is ‘‘certainly a credit to the uniform he wears,” Hovanic said. ‘‘SSgt O'Neill embodies the ideals of what the DoDEA Volunteer Excellence Award is all about.”

Moreover, Neill has also been chosen the Military Member of the Year for JWAC in 2006, his first year at the command, and, most recently, as the JWAC Military Member of the Quarter for the fourth quarter of 2008 (see related article).

As the only AVID tutor at the school, Neill’s impending departure this summer promises to create a huge gap. ‘‘Every once in a while, he’s on travel (and, therefore, unable to volunteer at the school). The kids are heartbroken,” Walseman said.

Neill’s next deployment will occur as early as this summer when he reports to the 2nd Intelligence Battalion, Systems Support Platoon at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He doubts that his new duties will leave much time for tutoring or any other community involvement and at age 26 he has not begun to start thinking about a post-Marine Corps career in education or any other field. (He is also quick to dismiss his qualifications: ‘‘I doubt any parent would be very happy having their kid report to someone as opinionated as me for their teacher,” Neill said.) In the meantime, he continues to work toward his goal of earning a bachelor’s in information and technology.

Still, Neill’s work at the school promises to outlive him. ‘‘Long after he’s left Dahlgren, I think they’ll still remember Daryl,” Walseman said.