Fifth-grade students at the Academy for Science and Foreign Languages have been talking a lot these days about the careers they someday want to have thanks to the help of employees at Headquarters Army Materiel Command Forward at Redstone Arsenal.
Vergus Davis of the Equal Employment Office at Headquarters AMC Forward has been working with the fifth-graders as part of his organization's Adopt-A-School program. During a Leaders of Tomorrow program in the school's media center May 7, Davis was thanked by the students with a "thank you" sign and an ASFL T-shirt, indicating the school and its students had adopted him as one of their leading volunteers.
Davis was proud of the students' work in searching out different career fields.
"We've improved," he told the students. "I am so glad you took this seriously and have really looked at all the different careers you can have."
The fifth-graders have chosen career fields - such as linguistics, banking, psychology, construction, emergency services, coaching, management and journalism - and have looked at what it will take for them to follow their favorite career path.
"This is the time to start planning your decision," Ron Lewis, deputy of G-3/5 for enterprise integration for AMC, told the students during the program. "It's not too early to start achieving what you want to do in your lives. It's not too early to start working toward your dreams."
Lewis commended ASFL teachers and Davis for promoting a program that included parents who shared information on their own careers.
"It's so great to have this opportunity to share and learn about different jobs," he said.
Lewis told the students about his own three children, and how they searched out career fields as they grew up. His oldest has completed college and is a speech pathologist.
He encouraged the students to "look at different things and start sorting it out for yourselves. Look into things and ask questions. You have time to make a decision. Continue to look toward the highest mark you can achieve."
Lewis also talked about his career as an Army civilian. He told the students that he graduated from college with an education degree, but joined the Army's civilian corps in a job training position because there were no teacher jobs available at the time. That change in his career path has led to nearly 35 years with the Defense Department.
"You don't sometimes know what kind of paths will come into your life," he said. "The key is to work hard now and get a good education so that you can take advantage of the doors that open to you. The habits of working through challenges and not getting deterred start right now."
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