High school students learn about career opportunities during base visit

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amber Russell
  • 459th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. --  20 students from Cardozo Senior High School, Washington, DC, visited Joint Base Andrews here, May 25 and learned more about career opportunities in the Air Force Reserve and the regular Air Force.

The student's fourth-annual base tour, hosted by the 459th Air Refueling Wing, included a visit with the Explosive Ordinance Demolition team at the 316th Civil Engineer Squadron and a static display of a KC-135 Stratotanker.

Col. James M. Allman, 459th ARW commander, also spoke with the students during their tour and discussed how they could prepare now for a future career as an Airman in the Air Force Reserve.

During his briefing, Col. Allman focused on avoiding "self-eliminating" behaviors like taking physical health for granted and letting grades fall behind, which could both potentially bar the students from service.

"This was our opportunity to reach out to high school students to provide them with a vision to strive for," he said.

Lee Carpenter, a pre-engineering instructor with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority accompanied the Cardozo Senior High School students on their visit here. She said the students are part of a high school program called Transtech Academy, which provides them with academic and technological curriculum focused on future career opportunities in the transportation field.

"This field trip is an excellent opportunity to integrate students into a technological society and I can't teach this (what the students learned on the tour) in a classroom," Ms. Carpenter said.

As their base visit came to a close, the students left the 459th ARW with further knowledge about the career opportunities and technology available to them as an Airman in the Air Force Reserve and the regular Air Force.