Skits Focus On Character Development Post Falls Woman’S Program Gets National Attention

Tami Martinez knew her idea was good, but she never expected to find herself in Washington, D.C., explaining it to congressional staffers.

“I’m a mom from Post Falls,” she says, as if the impossible has happened.

Tami, 37, teaches schoolchildren about friendship, responsibility, cooperation and six other character traits. She combined her talent for drama with her love for teens and the desire to make a difference and came up with PACT - the Proactive Alliance for Character Training.

Even as a child, Tami gravitated toward teens. As a teen herself and then as a young adult, she wrote musicals and produced them with teenage casts. Her work spawned a community theater in Newburg, Ore.

When she moved to Post Falls in 1993, she decided to home-school her three children. Other home-school parents learned about her theater background and asked her to conduct a drama class.

“It was very difficult - 28 kids who’d never interacted with other kids,” Tami says, laughing. “It turned out to be an amazing group.”

And the inspiration for Tami’s character education program.

For her group of home-schooled students, she wrote skits that spotlight major teen issues - peer pressure, stress, family, anger, sex and substance abuse.

The scripts included discussion breaks so the audience could suggest resolutions to problem situations. Tami’s teens worked with the Coeur d’Alene School District’s Natural Helpers, high school youths chosen by the student body as peer counselors.

Natural Helpers re-enacted the skits for English classes. Tami was pleased but wanted to work on a larger scale.

By fall 1997, she’d enrolled her son at Ponderosa Elementary. He came home one day talking about the word of the month: “friendship.” Lights went on in Tami’s brain.

She wrote conflict-resolution scripts to reinforce the character words of the month. Her home-schooled teen troupe performed them for Ponderosa students and encouraged them to yell out answers.

“There’s a lot of potty humor. It catches their attention,” Tami says, using as an example this line from one of her scripts: “At least my bird doesn’t give the king royal gas.”

Joe St. John, Ponderosa’s former vice principal, liked Tami’s program so much that he’s arranged to bring it to Worley’s Lakeside Elementary where he’s principal now.

“Children understand it. She uses humor, empathy, some fantasy, some reality - it’s a nice mix of styles,” he says.

Bryan Wilkes, who’s known Tami since 1993, also liked her program. He became friends with her when he worked in Sen. Larry Craig’s press office and kept in touch as he moved on to other congressional offices.

As her program developed, he urged her to share it with the nation’s movers and shakers.

“Tami’s got the right idea, getting them young,” Bryan says. “She has the right tools and knowledge. She just needed to know how to put it all together.”

Last winter, Tami flew to Washington, D.C., and Bryan introduced her to dozens of politicians, staffers and officials.

The exposure yielded nationwide interest in PACT. Tami’s skits were free and sensible. People around the country helped PACT become a nonprofit corporation with a board of advisers.

This fall, Tami’s program is being tested in school districts in California, Washington and Alaska.

The attention is well-timed. Tami, who’s recently divorced, has maxed out her credit cards and refinanced her house to keep her program alive.

“We’re not political or religious, but we need all that support,” she says. “This has gotten so big that we’re working 50 to 60 hours a week with no compensation.”

PACT is organizing a community service fair at the Silver Lake Mall for Oct. 23. Any organization that improves the community is invited to attend, but space is limited.

PACT also will collect a list of service projects that volunteers can join. Call 772-5303 for details.