Service members teach career skills, share life experiences with high school students Published Feb. 5, 2015 By Eric M. White 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Service members from Youngstown Air Reserve Station (YARS), Ohio, volunteered their time to teach career skills and share life experiences with high school students at Choffin Career and Technical Center here, Feb. 5, 2014. The event was organized by Junior Achievement (JA) of Mahoning Valley. According to its website, JA is a global organization focused on empowering young people to own their economic success. For Service members from YARS, the event provided an opportunity to represent their branch of service, use their military experience to mentor high school students and possibly inspire potential recruits to consider a career in the Armed Forces. Senior Master Sgt. Paul Boothe, operations superintendent with the 910th Operations Support Squadron, has volunteered for community awareness and speaking engagements before, but said this event was particularly rewarding. He said it was good to be able to share some experiences with the students and hopefully influence positive decisions. According to Nicole Fond, Program Manager with Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley, the program is designed to develop the often underemphasized soft skills many employers are looking for in potential employees. "We hear so often that students graduating high school and college are missing these basic soft skills," said Fond, "so the program is designed to work on communication, conflict management, team building (and) problem solving. It also goes over writing a cover letter and résumé and covers the importance of social media." 2nd Lt. Ryan Buck, a command and control officer with the 910th Airlift Wing, relates the skills he taught to the military lifestyle. "I think everything we discussed is relevant to finding both immediate and lasting success in a military setting, especially for those who have these unique experiences," said Buck. "The military fosters and forges critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration in each and every individual." Master Sgt. Kenya Shipp, a 910th Force Support Squadron training manager who volunteered for the event, remembers what it was like to be a high school student sitting through class each day. She recalls sometimes feeling that teachers, principals and other school staff were mostly just doing their jobs when interacting with students. When a visitor came to address the class however, it was different. Shipp said she hopes the students understand that the Service members were there because they genuinely wanted to be. Several of the volunteers said the students were not aware of all the career possibilities available in the military and benefited from learning how their career-specific technical studies at Choffin might apply toward a military career. "The individuals have a lot of real-world experience that they can share with the students," said Fond, "and I think it's important that the students hear those stories." Fond said the uniform also provides a bit of an advantage in reaching the students. "There's kind of a sense of control and empowerment when you see an individual with a uniform," said Fond. "I think it's nice for the students to see that and to be aware of the careers that you can have in the military."