Category: High School Graduation

Graduation. Its a day you have been waiting for the longest time in your life. It is an important day in your life as you celebrate it with all those people who have helped you and supported you to finish your graduation in such a way that you are now going to have the life of your dreams. Its a day meant for celebration with your family, friends, teachers and all your wellwishers. Now let us know how graduation day is celebrated.

Its a celebration and there is no need to be worried about anything. It is a huge opportunity to thank everyone who helped you and also believed in you more than you believed in yourself.

WHAT IS A GRADUATION DAY?

In simpler words, “Graduation day” is an important day in a student’s life on which receiving or graduating an academic degree on completion of one’s degree. The graduation ceremony is the day of the process which involves the march of the students on stage, speeches, official announcements regarding the graduation of every student of the college. It is one of the most important days in a student’s life. Hence, the ceremony is attended by family, friends, and wellwishers. It is a pride moment for all of them. The ceremony ends with the graduates throwing their hats known as mortarboards to air as the sign of a new step to their lives.

Here are a few tips for you to follow on your life’s big day:

GET SOME GOOD SLEEP

As your parents always say, it is important to have a good sleep the day prior to the big event. It can help you feel much relaxed. You might be worried about your dress, the number of people attending the event, and many other things the previous day. It is not really necessary. It is your day. Be excited and have fun with “your people”. Enjoy your success.

GET READY TO CAPTURE MOMENTS

People take pictures to capture few special moments and cherish them for a lifetime. It is very much important to capture those moments where you are receiving your graduation certificate from a prestigious college. Take pictures with every person who ever helped you in your college/school life. It is not only a big day for you, but also for your parents, siblings, friends, wellwishers, teachers, guides and your mentors. People say, “every picture has a story behind it”. It is a happy story to be told to your future generations.

MINGLE WITH YOUR CLASSMATES

It might be the last time you will be communicating with your mates. There are high chances of you all moving to different cities or even countries. Sort it out if there is any misunderstanding. Make peace with your friends. If you ever wanted to share or confess something to your friend, it is the best time to do so. End your college on a good note.

SELF CARE AND GROOMING

Grooming is one of the tasks which takes more time as you have to what to wear and how to present yourself. It is better to wear whatever you are comfortable in. also, it is important to keep the weather in mind when you are selecting the dress. Although you will be wearing your gown for the majority of your day, it is important to be comfortable. Especially for women, it is better not to wear high heels unless you are comfortable with it. Most of you will be having cold feet while walking on stage, hence comfort and confidence is the most important factor. There are high chances of your parents being overwhelmed and emotional. Also, tears run out of their eyes in no time. It will be a meaningful event as well. It is better to have a tissue.

The increasing of students dropping out of school before graduation is one of the main problems that countries have faced nowadays. Among those students, some tend to find a job rather than to pursue their study in the college. Even though it is a serious problem for school to cope with, the willingness of the students themselves to prefer finding a job as it is their decision making since not everyone is in their situation. Therefore, there is a debate whether college students should be able to make a choice to drop out of school to pursue a job without getting the degree in the college or not. From the personal point of view, there are many reasons why teens are rather required to not stay in university until their graduation.

First of all, people have different fields of interest. If a student has a great idea to do something else which he or she is sure it will be more successful, that student should not be afraid to leave college. This type of student often finds school is a stressful place which leads them to disengage with the campus management. Instead, those students are more interested in the outside world, and have another goal in life needed to accomplish, so college cannot be extremely helpful for them. Moreover, special ability or talent also causes them to work harder to strive for their career fields. The world already knows Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Kanye West all experienced dropping out of school but achieve wonderful success. For instance, Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft and a richest person in the world for many years, dropped out of Harvard University in his junior year after discovering Altair microcomputer in Popular Electronics magazine, and then he started to create Microsoft with his friend to write software for the Altair (The editors of publications international, n.d.).

Another reason is that some careers do not require college. Without a degree in the college does not mean you cannot have a job. Beside a doctor who requires to have a proper degree, people can still work in another field of career that does not need them to complete the college year. According to the balance careers, there are ten high-paying jobs that do not require a college degree, and some of those jobs are computer programmers, database manager, pharmacy technician and network, and computer systems administrator. These are called as skill-based jobs which can be commonly found in healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, hospital, state governments, schools, and other organizations that are looking for a skillful person to work under their firms rather than the right degree (Newcombe, 2018).

Last but not least, financial problem can also encourage students to abandon the campus life. Beside many reasons, financial issue might be the key factor in student decision. This may happen because some family members can no longer be able to find the income to support the family or afford to pay the fee for children’s school. In some situations, the breadwinner may lose their jobs that lead to a financial difficulty in the whole family. Many students would work while they were attending in the college, but the balancing of work and school were too much burden; plus, it is very hard to support themselves and brace their families at the same time. Consequently, this issue has turned more complicated for students to continue their study in the college, and since the cost of college is quite expensive, students will decide to rather make money by working full time than continuing a costly degree.

Some people might say that dropping out of college is a risk since it is easier to get a job with a college degree than without one. However, in the society, there are many opportunities always waiting for someone who has an actual goal to learn things that may even prove one’s success without getting to sit in the classroom. Also, abandoning the college to pursue a job can help students to deal with their personal problem as well.

In brief, there are a few reasons why students should give up on college to take a job. Some students have interests in starting to have a career because they did not have an interest in learning. Students also have different talent which allows them to pursue a different dream as well. Also, if the right job presents itself, the college degree would not worth it. Without giving up on the college, there might be even more difficulties for students that does not have enough financial supports. As long as the person has a strong commitment to ensure their decision, there is nothing wrong for them to just do what they want to.

Life is full of lesson-learned experiences. Life is always going to be a never-ending learning experience. During your lifetime, you are going to experience an event that will teach you something important and ultimately shape or greatly affect your relationship to learning, reading, and writing. Throughout my lifetime, I have had too many trials and tribulations that caused me to be mentally challenged. In my opinion, everyone can relate to a life-changing experience that affected them in a righteous way. Many people teach us through positive experiences, and our enemies teach us with negative experiences. For this purpose, I owe one of my most defining experiences to my enemy, who was myself. This experience reflects my final year of high school. I was discouraging myself on how I was not going to be able to complete my end-of-the-year project. As an 18-year-old finishing my senior year of high school, I was consumed by a false sense of believing that writing an essay was the most difficult task that could not be completed satisfactorily. I failed to realize I was stressing myself out and making things harder than they really are. I am still guilty of believing that because writing is not my best strength.

Before I graduated high school, all the seniors had an end-of-the-year project. Every year, the seniors would have a six-page essay on a topic that the student could choose and present a PowerPoint presentation to go along with their essays. The purpose of the PowerPoint presentation was to expound upon your essay, including the introduction, thesis statement, three body paragraphs on the points in your thesis, conclusion, etc. I honestly thought that this was going to be a relatively easy project. Well, I was completely incorrect. My 12th-grade English teacher changed everything differently by the time my senior year came around. We had to write an essay on the book we were currently reading at the time. It was very difficult for me because I am not good at writing essays. We had to get a good comprehension of the book and expound upon the three topics my teacher provided for the project. The name of the book was ‘Macbeth’, which is a very popular story. I had to choose one of the three topics, which were evil, supernatural, and manhood. Then, we had a series of questions we had to answer within the topics we choose throughout our essay. I choose the topic of the supernatural. Based upon the learning outcomes, in my end-of-the-year project, I had to develop and logically organize appropriate details and evidence to support writing focus, making connections between ideas.

Throughout my school experience, writing an essay or research paper was always a struggle for me. I absolutely loved to read because I could remember anything I read. I did not enjoy writing because what I wrote was unorganized and I was not covering the whole idea or tasks of the assignment. I had no confidence and thought I was never going to achieve my goals in my English class. So, I let my negative thoughts take over me, and with that, I decided not to get the proper help I needed. I would get assistance in class from my teacher, but I was not trying to put forth the effort to sign up for any writing workshops to help me improve my writing. I felt that I was intelligent, and did not need any extra help. In my English class, I learned a great deal and realized that it was my level of confidence that was affecting me negatively. Then, starting this class, a couple of months later, and going through all the criteria, it was interesting to see how wrong I have been writing in the past and that there are easy outlines that can help with organizing a paper. The writing process is there to help guide you along so the writing will flow easier throughout the essay. With an abundance of hard work, reading essays and novels, going through the online articles provided, and the help of my teacher and classmates, I have gained the self-assurance I needed to write exceptionally well and understand the writing process.

Throughout my years of schooling, I have become ambivalent about writing. I have struggled in school to make myself enjoy writing. I only enjoyed writing if it was freestyle writing. I did not really enjoy writing if I had to read and find sources of evidence. I didn’t mind reading as much if it was in my interest. It has differed throughout the years I have been in school. Some years I have enjoyed writing, and other years I have not liked to write. Getting myself to enjoy writing has been quite an adventure. In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either since we did not have to write so many essays. I began learning how to write when I was taught how to write my name at the age of three. Reading had just been freshly introduced, considering the fact that I wasn’t even in grade school. My parents and grandparents would always read to me, and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout my years of reading until today, I have always loved to read books, but I just did not like writing essays if I had found different sources and organized an essay. I did not have a favorite novel, but I would just about read any book, whether it was fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, etc. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension, which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed. My love for reading slowly went down the drain the older I got. I absolutely hated to read if I had to write an essay about the information.

To help me become more successful in completing my essay were the five ways to improve my essay writing skills. The first step is to make an outline. I needed to know what I was going to write about before I started writing. Before I even start writing an essay, it was very important to know what I want to talk about. In this case, I wanted to talk about all the supernatural events that occurred in ‘Macbeth’. The easiest way to narrow down a thesis statement and create an argument is to make an outline before I began to write my essay. The basic structure of my essay included the following elements: an introduction that includes my thesis statement, the body of the essay, which should include separate paragraphs discussing evidence that supports the thesis, and a conclusion that ties everything together and connects it to the thesis statement. The second step is to acquire an understanding of basic grammar, style, and punctuation. Grammar, style, and punctuation were and still are incredibly important because I wanted my research essay to be understood. Before I began to write my essay, I made sure I had an understanding of basic grammar. The basics of grammar included verb and subject agreement, proper article and pronoun usage, and well-formed sentence structures. I was positively sure I knew the proper uses for the most common forms of punctuation. Finally, while writing an essay, voice is important. I also avoided transition words that do not add anything to the sentence and unnecessary wordiness that interrupts the whole main idea from my research and evidence. The third step is using the right vocabulary and diction. It was important to know the correct definition of the words When writing my essay, I remembered I was trying to persuade others that you are an expert who can make an intelligent argument. Using big words just to sound smart often results in the opposite effect; it is easy to detect when someone is overcompensating in their writing. If I was unsure of the exact meaning of a word, I would use a dictionary rather than risk using the word incorrectly. Using obscure language could have also taken away from the clarity of my evidence. I took into consideration these facts before I pulled out the thesaurus or any other tool that was involved to change that perfectly good word to something completely different. The fourth step is to understand the argument and critically analyze the evidence. In the process of writing the essay, I always had the struggle with organizing the essay and staying on the topic of discussion. While it might be tempting to go off on a tangent about some interesting side note to your topic, I tried not to because I wanted my writing to be less concise. While completing the essay, I always question any evidence I included in my essay. I asked myself: ‘Does this directly support my thesis?’. If the answer was ‘no’, then I would exclude that evidence, or I would revise it to make it directly support my thesis statement. When I was evaluating the evidence, I was being critical and thorough. I wanted to use the strongest research to back up my thesis statement. Everything I included, I made sure it had a clear connection to my topic and the argument. The fifth and final step is knowing how to write a proper conclusion that supports your research. My conclusion is the paragraph that ties all my research together to prove my thesis.

In conclusion, the task to complete my project was to develop and logically organize the appropriate details and evidence to support writing focus, as well as to make connections between ideas. I may have struggled to complete the project, but I made sure I utilized the main five steps to enhance writing an essay. The most important thing to remember is that there is always room for growth. To be a successful person, I will never go through life. It is a must that I grow through life. I am beyond thankful for the hard times because they only made me stronger. I struggled with my senior project, but I worked very hard to the best of my ability. Every struggle that I have encountered in life has shaped me into the person I am today. My senior project was my experience that taught me something important and ultimately shape and greatly affected my relationship writing.

Finally, your big day has come. A moment in almost everyone’s life where you can celebrate your achievement, High school graduation. You’ve been looking forward to this moment since you were a freshman and now it’s here. You are super excited to take your next step in life and see what the world has for you. You feel prepared for college, you’ve learned everything there is to know about chemistry and calculus. As you are preparing to walk across the stage, you think about how much college is going to cost you and you have no clue how you’re going to be able to afford it. Your parents can’t help you because they are struggling out of their own debt due to medical bills. You realize after high school, you’re financially abandoned with no plan of how you’re going to repay your loan debt after college or even if you chose the right loans that won’t screw you over later. You consider waiting to go to college for a few years so you can have a little more money to help pay for the expenses. Though then you’d have to pay for other bills like rent and groceries. You never learned how to budget your expenses or file your taxes. How are you expected to do something you were never taught how to do?

Before getting into the argument I should also explain what Financial literacy is. Financial literacy, in my context, means the basic knowledge of personal finance and know how to make smart financial decisions. Some areas of study would consist of investing, paying for college, retirement planning, tax planning, and budgeting.

You should know that a high percentage of Americans are financially struggling. In fact, there’s an article written by Liz Frazier, titled “5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught In School” and published by Forbes Media. Frazier states that “Nearly half of Americans don’t have enough cash available to cover a $400 emergency” (par. 10). Many Americans are not living financially stable lives, due to the increase in costs of college and lack of learning about loans and paying them off. In fact, Frazier states that “millennials are starting their careers with a combined $1.52 trillion in debt” (par. 11). The younger generations are coming into the workforce with less financial knowledge and more debt than any other generation before them. With all this considered, although the Department of Education may not think it’s important, I believe that the Department of Education should require high school students to take a financial literacy course because it teaches responsibility, grants an equal chance at financial success, and it can help the economy.

One reason why the department of education should require high school students to take a financial literacy class is that it teaches responsibility. In fact, Frazier states, “Budgeting teaches awareness and responsibility. If someone has a budget that they actively manage, it forces them to look at their spending. They are aware of how much they have available, and this leads to making better spending decisions.” (par. 16). For example, creating and following a budget will create healthy habits for students to pick up. Almost like having a dog and taking care of it gives children a responsibility that they must deal with frequently. Personally, I know when my parents got me and my brothers a dog, I had a lot more chores to do like walking it, feeding it, cleaning it, and cleaning up after it. These chores didn’t directly help me learn any skills, but it did give me something to be held accountable for which lead me to hold myself accountable for my actions thus teaching me how to be responsible. Considering this, teaching responsibility is important because responsibility is an important virtue in learning. If more students can learn more efficiently, then they will be better prepared for graduation and overall success. This success will reflect upon the department of education through improved test scores and higher graduation rates. Another result of teaching students responsibility is that it creates an overall healthier environment of learning. Responsible students care too much about getting good grades and preparing for college to act insubordinately. Therefore, this is just one reason why the department of education should require high school students to take a financial literacy class.

In addition to responsibility, the Department of Education should make high school students learn financial literacy because it also grants all students an equal chance at financial success. There is a huge problem with financial inequality in this country. In fact, an article written by Stephan Schwartz, titled “Life, Death, and Financial Inequality” and published in Explore. The article states that “One in five U.S. households has zero or negative net worth. ‘Underwater households’ make up an even higher share of households of color. More than 30 percent of black households and 27 percent of Latino households have zero or negative net worth to fall back on” (Schwartz 9). In support, some people are born with less financial guidance and are given fewer opportunities to learn how to be financially responsible. For example, my parents didn’t directly sit me down and show me how to do taxes, but they did lead by example in the sense of being smart with their money and it showed me that if I saved when I was younger, I wouldn’t suffer as much later. A more extreme example could be that some kids are born into wealth and their parents are paying for their college and so they won’t have to worry about loans when graduating from college. Most parents can’t afford to pay for their child’s entire college education, so the student will have to deal with paying off loans and they might not have a clue what to do. As well, there are some students who are academically successful but financially get no support due to growing up in poverty. For example, Alex Yue Feng Zhu, Christina Wai Mui, and Kee Lee Chou are authors of an article titled “Improving Financial Literacy in Secondary School Students: An Randomized Experiment,” which was published in Youth and Society. Within the article, it states that “Family income is positively associated with financial literacy in young people, and youth financial literacy is, in turn, positively correlated to the amount of wealth they are able to accumulate in adulthood” (Zhu et. al. 3). Considering this, it is important to give these students an equal chance to financial success because high school is meant to provide each student an equal chance at success after graduation so equally preparing each student is the department of education’s obligation. Therefore, this is another reason why the department of education should require high school students to learn financial literacy.

Furthermore, another reason why the Department of Education should require high school students to learn financial literacy is that it could later help the economy. Financially smart adults tend to be more successful in their career decisions, meaning there will most likely be more opportunities for better jobs and a better economy. Employers want to make sure that you have an established life before they hire someone, financials are one of the biggest indicators of a responsible life. Things like your credit score can be a deciding factor of hiring you or not. So being financially responsible can give you an edge when applying for a job. Now think, if everyone was more financially responsible, more people would have more opportunities for jobs. Frazier says it simply, “More jobs, more money, and less debt are good for the economy as a whole” (par. 18). Having a healthy economy can be essential for education. If the economy isn’t healthy, the education system will pay for it. Budget cuts in the education system can lead to lower education quality. For example, the latest recession we had in America led to budget cuts for education. In fact, an article written by Daarel Burnette II, titled “Recession’s Budget Cuts Hurt Test Scores,” and published in Education Week. Burnette states “Researchers studied test scores of students in grades 3-8 in more than 2,500 counties and found that districts with the biggest budget cuts from 2007 to 2010 experienced a loss of approximately 25 percent of the expected annual academic gains compared with districts least affected by the recession” (6). The economy clearly reflects the success of education so its vital that the economy is healthy in America if we want our education to be proficient. In the end, this is the final reason why the department of education should require high school students to learn financial literacy.

The Department of Education and some educators may argue that adding another required course such as financial literacy is a bad idea because there are already too many general education classes already. As a former high school student, I understand where they are coming from. There are many courses I had to take in high school and some of them already seemed completely useless. In fact, David Ferrero wrote an article titled “Are Schools Trying to Teach Too Much?” published by Editorial Projects in Education. Ferrero states that “Educators can’t keep stuffing new content into current curricula willy-nilly without thoughtful deliberation over what knowledge and skills to prioritize” (par. 4). Next Ferrero goes on to say, “In order for teachers to integrate new knowledge and skills thoughtfully and coherently, we have to be a rethink and reduce the current course loads schools require” (par. 5). So clearly educators feel that students don’t have time in their schedule to take another required class. However, the Department of Education should consider that if there’s too much to learn in too little time then why are so many high school students graduating early? In support, there’s an article titled “Early High School Graduation Programs Gain Traction,” written by Kimberley Railey and published by USA Today. In the article, Railey states “Across the nation, fewer than 3% of students graduate high school early” (par. 8). Railey then goes on to say, “now early high school graduation programs are getting a boost at the local level” (par. 9). This is consequential to the fact that maybe high school might not be as rigorous as it needs to be. So why not one more required class?

Now, you’re back at graduation. You’re walking across that stage. You’re questioning if college really prepared you for life the way it should. Did you learn how to take out a loan? Or how to manage your money efficiently? Or even teach you how to pay your taxes? You could be arrested for tax evasion, something you most likely never properly learned about. But hey… at least you know the quadratic formula!

Works Cited

1. Burnette II, Daarel. “Recession’s Budget Cuts Hurt Test Scores.” Education Week, vol. 39, no. 7, October 2019. pp. 6. EBSCOhost. search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=138932734&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 9 November 2019.
2. Ferrero, David J. “Are Schools Trying to Teach Too Much?” Education Week, Editorial Projects in Education, 20 Feb. 2019, www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/07/20/are-schools-trying-to-teach-too-much.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss. Accessed 9 November 2019.
3. Frazier, Liz. “5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught In School.” Forbes Media, 29 August 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizfrazierpeck/2019/08/29/5-reasons-personal-finance-should-be-taught-in-school/#3ddb27d65178. Accessed 24 October 2019.
4. Railey, Kimberly. “Early High School Graduation Programs Gain Traction.” USA Today, 28 July 2013, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/27/early-high-school-graduation/2518817/. Accessed 9 November 2019.
5. Schwartz, Stephan. “Life, Death, and Financial Inequality.” Explore,
6. vol. 15, no. 1, February 2019. pp. 9-12. Science Direct. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2018.10.010. Accessed 9 November 2019.
7. Yue Feng Zhu, Alex, Christina Wai Mui, Kee Lee Chou. “Improving Financial Literacy in Secondary School Students: An Randomized Experiment.” Youth & Society, 29 May 2019. pp. 1-24. Sage Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0044118X19851311. Accessed 24 October 2019.

Recruiting in Easley, South Carolina

My name is SSG Dillon Bennett, and my paper is going to cover the recruiting market of Easley, South Carolina (SC) and Easley High School. Easley, SC is a rural area in Anderson County located in the upstate of South Carolina. Easley High School is a Tier One public school that is accredited in the state of South Carolina. The purpose of this paper is to break down my plan to conduct school programs and recruiting practices for the purpose of recruiting qualified applicants into the South Carolina Army National Guard (SCARING).

Demographics

The demographics for Easley, SC consist of 21,240 citizens. Of the 21,240 citizens, 35 percent are between the ages of 17 and 34. This is important to my recruiting plan because that means a little over 7,000 citizens of Easley, SC is potential applicants for the SCANG. In Easley, SC, 85 percent of the citizens have graduated high school. About 25 percent of students go on to complete at least a bachelor’s degree following high school. Easley High School does not administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) at the school. The average score for the SAT is 1100 and the average ACT score is 24. Easley High School has a graduation rate of 82 percent. The education information is important because it shows that a high percentage of the citizens are qualified for enlistment when it comes to education, with a large percentage of the high school graduates have continued their education and earned a graduate degree. This can be useful because we have a shortage of officer applicants in the state and recruiting more officer candidates could be an area of focus throughout the year. Easley High School does not have an ROTC program available for students to take part in. Easley SC has an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent and 12 percent of the citizens are without health insurance.

School Program

School Programs offered at Easley High School include football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, wrestling, and volleyball. Providing the players and staff with team building and strength management activities has proved to be critical when building relationships with the team. The teams really enjoy it when we provide them with Warrior Fit and other physically taxing activities that enhance their physical fitness and improve their performance. Easley High School does not have a JROTC that would facilitate entry into the school. I also plan of being in my school at least twice a week conducting lunch room displays, talking with students and building relationships with the students so that I can be more approachable when I am there. I want to provide the school and students with valuable classes that will help them build a better life and career for them once they graduate high school.

Recruiting and Sustainment Plan

My first quarter’s primary focus for recruiting is the seniors of Easley High School. Easley High School has a senior class of 254 students making it easier to talk and mentor the majority of the students about SCARING. Support of the military shown by Easley High School makes my job as a recruiter a lot easier. By doing lunch room displays, warrior fit for the sports teams and informational classes will help break the ice with the students. I feel welcomed when administering classes and presentations to the students. My secondary mission for the first quarter is to focus on high school graduates and college students, especially the ones that recently graduated who still have friends at Easley High School. In my first quarter, I am going to focus more on college freshmen who are just starting their first year of college and realize just how expensive school is going to be over the next four years. I want to show college students the benefit of being in the SCARING as a Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) as well as the benefits of joining the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). My tertiary market for the first quarter is to focus on talking with and educating the prior service soldiers and the soldiers assigned to my unit Inactive Ready Reserves (IRR) who are on the fence about coming back into the SCARING. Soldiers who have been out of the National Guard less than a year tend to be more accepting of reenlisting due to missing the bonds that they build while serving with the same group of soldiers for multiple years.

My second quarter’s primary focus is going to be the high school juniors of Easley High School. I will focus on showing the benefit of joining SCARING as a high school junior and explain to them how they can be paid for two years of service while still attending high school. Along with the monetary benefits of being in the SCARING as a high school student, I like to show them that by the time they complete their training and high school their contract will be roughly 33 percent complete and they would be non-deployable through that time period. My secondary focus of the second quarter is to continue talking with the college students in my area, showing them all the ways that SCARING can help pay for college, and show how they can come out of college debt free and have a career in SCARING. My tertiary focus for the second quarter is going to consist of talking with the units in my area and getting information on the soldiers in the IRR. I will conduct weekly contacts of the IRR soldiers and conduct monthly talks with the units that I am assigned to find out the concerns of the soldiers who completed their service and how we help to get them back in.

My third quarter’s primary mission is to focus on my high school seniors, assisting with determining how they can pay for college, especially the ones who did not receive the scholarships or grants that were hoping for. I also want to focus on the students who in the past have been on the fence about whether or not the SCARING would be a good fit for them. My secondary mission for the second quarter is to focus on the high school juniors who are still on the fence but are still able to ship to basic training over the summer break. My tertiary mission for the third quarter is to continue to focus on my units and the IRR. I also want to focus more on the prior service members who have more than 8 years and no longer have a mandatory service obligation by showing them that they can enlist for shorter periods of time. I also want to take some time to visit the VFWs and get back into my community and visit with fellow veterans who may be eligible to reenlist.

My fourth quarter’s primary mission is to focus on contacting, and interviewing the glossary non-prior service applicants. I plan on doing this by contacting a minimum of 10 a week and finding out what is holding them back from fulfilling the original enlistment. My secondary mission for the fourth quarter is to get back in touch with the high school juniors who are now rising seniors to see what is causing them to have hesitation on joining. Over the summer I plan on attending the sports camps, running warrior fit with the teams that are practicing over the summer break such as football and baseball. I also plan of meeting with the guidance counselors and other staff to prepare for the next school year. I want to ensure that I am able to support Easley High School in any way that benefits both the school and my mission. My tertiary mission for the fourth quarter is to get in contact with the high school seniors who I was talking with prior to the end of the school year and see where they are at with their life. At this time a lot of high school seniors who have graduated are starting to figure out that life is expensive. My goal is to help show these graduates how scary can help them make money, go to college, and have a career.

Recruiter Zone

The utilization of the Recruiter Zone (RZ) is very important to maintain contact with the schools, students, and anyone whom I have talked with over the course of the year. Being able to set appointments, and follow up with contacts in one place is crucial to mission success. Using Recruiter Zone in conjunction with School Zone is going to help not only in the current year but in the future, especially when going to a school that has not been kept up with in School Zone in the past. Being able to view everything together while adding the calendar events for Easley, SC will help me maintain focus and come to work ready to be successful every day.

Conclusion

In conclusion, knowing the market of Easley, SC, and the demographics of Easley High School, along with the help of Recruiter Zone is going to set me up for success as a recruiter. By applying the tools I have been given and evolving my plan as time goes on, I will be pushed to be the best that I can be. Without a recruiter zone or a plan in place, I will set myself up for failure. By taking the time to be involved in both my school and the city of Easley, I will learn what I can do to have the greatest impact on the lives that I touch every day.

References

1. (n.d.). Easley High School Test Scores and Academics. Retrieved from https://www.niche.com/k12/easley-high-school-easley-sc/academics/
2. (2019). Army National Guard Strength Maintenance Program. Arlington, VA: Department of Defense National Guard Bureau.
3. US Census Bureau. (n.d.). Census.gov. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/
4. Bennett, D. J. (2019, August 12). Target Market Analysis. Easley, SC
5. (n.d.). Recruiter Zone, School Zone. Retrieved from krome.usaac.army.mil/

I first asked myself what is a defining moment. And I came to the conclusion that a defining moment is a point in your life when you’re urged to make a vital decision, or when you experience something that fundamentally changes you. Not only do these moments define us, but they have a transformative effect on our perceptions and behaviors. It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I like to name these moments in a person’s life, “defining moments”. In fact, like most people, I’ve had a few of these “defining moments” probably more than one person should. Growing up, some of my defining moments I had a hard time accepting. I would probably say my defining moment would be my high school Graduation.

To most people graduation can be an exciting time in a person’s life, for some it’s their high school graduation. When I think about my family and friends assembling together to mark a happy occasion, I know that I have accomplished my greatest objective. Graduation was never intended to be the culmination of my childhood and the start of adulthood. Graduating from high school was an influential event that gave me an altered outlook on my existence. I was overwhelmed by life before graduation, preparation for graduation day, and the beginning of reality. Life was a struggle for me before graduation. There was a lot happening at home starting off with the constant pressure to do well in my exams, to my parents having problems in their marriage, and also not being given any attention or love as a child. Also having to watch someone close to me die little by little everyday cause of cancer, I feel shaped me into a different person.

Graduation wasn’t that far off and it was about to strike me in the head like an arrow. Graduation is when seniors are met with one of the most significant events of the year. The staff put us in classes to keep all the students under the order. We all were divided into sections and labeled after letters and numbers. Soon after, all the senior class entered the auditorium in an orderly fashion. The practice had us recall memories of our freshmen to senior years. I saw a video that showed pictures of my youth to a young adult. I begin to think of the past and how much fun I had growing up. I also thought about how I would never see some of my friends again. After some time, the staff wanted us to practice walking across the stage. I didn’t quite understand why we needed to do this; I figured they wanted us to see how fast our life would flash in front of our eyes.

At last, the practice was over and I was able to go pick up my cap and gown. During this time, I thought about the next day and how it would be the end of another chapter in my years. Graduation day arrived and I had butterflies out of this world. It seemed as if I misplaced everything. I could not find my dress, I was late. I grabbed whatever I could and ran out the door and drove to my school as quickly as I could. While driving to school couldn’t help thinking about one of the most impactful influences in my life my grandfather. He would often say the most powerful things you can do in life is to make a decision and its an important part of growing up.

Life is full of lesson-learned experiences. Life is always going to be a never-ending learning experience. During your lifetime, you are going to experience an event that will teach you something important and ultimately shape or greatly affect your relationship to learning, reading, and writing. Throughout my lifetime, I have had too many trials and tribulations that caused me to be mentally challenged. In my opinion, everyone can relate to a life-changing experience that affected them in a righteous way. Many people teach us through positive experiences, and our enemies teach us with negative experiences. For this purpose, I owe one of my most defining experiences to my enemy, who was myself. This experience reflects my final year of high school. I was discouraging myself on how I was not going to be able to complete my end-of-the-year project. As an 18-year-old finishing my senior year of high school, I was consumed by a false sense of believing that writing an essay was the most difficult task that could not be completed satisfactorily. I failed to realize I was stressing myself out and making things harder than they really are. I am still guilty of believing that because writing is not my best strength.

Before I graduated high school, all the seniors had an end-of-the-year project. Every year, the seniors would have a six-page essay on a topic that the student could choose and present a PowerPoint presentation to go along with their essays. The purpose of the PowerPoint presentation was to expound upon your essay, including the introduction, thesis statement, three body paragraphs on the points in your thesis, conclusion, etc. I honestly thought that this was going to be a relatively easy project. Well, I was completely incorrect. My 12th-grade English teacher changed everything differently by the time my senior year came around. We had to write an essay on the book we were currently reading at the time. It was very difficult for me because I am not good at writing essays. We had to get a good comprehension of the book and expound upon the three topics my teacher provided for the project. The name of the book was ‘Macbeth’, which is a very popular story. I had to choose one of the three topics, which were evil, supernatural, and manhood. Then, we had a series of questions we had to answer within the topics we choose throughout our essay. I choose the topic of the supernatural. Based upon the learning outcomes, in my end-of-the-year project, I had to develop and logically organize appropriate details and evidence to support writing focus, making connections between ideas.

Throughout my school experience, writing an essay or research paper was always a struggle for me. I absolutely loved to read because I could remember anything I read. I did not enjoy writing because what I wrote was unorganized and I was not covering the whole idea or tasks of the assignment. I had no confidence and thought I was never going to achieve my goals in my English class. So, I let my negative thoughts take over me, and with that, I decided not to get the proper help I needed. I would get assistance in class from my teacher, but I was not trying to put forth the effort to sign up for any writing workshops to help me improve my writing. I felt that I was intelligent, and did not need any extra help. In my English class, I learned a great deal and realized that it was my level of confidence that was affecting me negatively. Then, starting this class, a couple of months later, and going through all the criteria, it was interesting to see how wrong I have been writing in the past and that there are easy outlines that can help with organizing a paper. The writing process is there to help guide you along so the writing will flow easier throughout the essay. With an abundance of hard work, reading essays and novels, going through the online articles provided, and the help of my teacher and classmates, I have gained the self-assurance I needed to write exceptionally well and understand the writing process.

Throughout my years of schooling, I have become ambivalent about writing. I have struggled in school to make myself enjoy writing. I only enjoyed writing if it was freestyle writing. I did not really enjoy writing if I had to read and find sources of evidence. I didn’t mind reading as much if it was in my interest. It has differed throughout the years I have been in school. Some years I have enjoyed writing, and other years I have not liked to write. Getting myself to enjoy writing has been quite an adventure. In elementary school, I loved to read. Writing was not a big deal either since we did not have to write so many essays. I began learning how to write when I was taught how to write my name at the age of three. Reading had just been freshly introduced, considering the fact that I wasn’t even in grade school. My parents and grandparents would always read to me, and I wanted to read those books as well. Throughout my years of reading until today, I have always loved to read books, but I just did not like writing essays if I had found different sources and organized an essay. I did not have a favorite novel, but I would just about read any book, whether it was fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, etc. Although I liked to read, I did struggle with reading comprehension, which made me dislike writing as well. I hated having to read and then go and write about it. To this day, I still do not like reading comprehension, but my feelings toward reading and writing have changed. My love for reading slowly went down the drain the older I got. I absolutely hated to read if I had to write an essay about the information.

To help me become more successful in completing my essay were the five ways to improve my essay writing skills. The first step is to make an outline. I needed to know what I was going to write about before I started writing. Before I even start writing an essay, it was very important to know what I want to talk about. In this case, I wanted to talk about all the supernatural events that occurred in ‘Macbeth’. The easiest way to narrow down a thesis statement and create an argument is to make an outline before I began to write my essay. The basic structure of my essay included the following elements: an introduction that includes my thesis statement, the body of the essay, which should include separate paragraphs discussing evidence that supports the thesis, and a conclusion that ties everything together and connects it to the thesis statement. The second step is to acquire an understanding of basic grammar, style, and punctuation. Grammar, style, and punctuation were and still are incredibly important because I wanted my research essay to be understood. Before I began to write my essay, I made sure I had an understanding of basic grammar. The basics of grammar included verb and subject agreement, proper article and pronoun usage, and well-formed sentence structures. I was positively sure I knew the proper uses for the most common forms of punctuation. Finally, while writing an essay, voice is important. I also avoided transition words that do not add anything to the sentence and unnecessary wordiness that interrupts the whole main idea from my research and evidence. The third step is using the right vocabulary and diction. It was important to know the correct definition of the words When writing my essay, I remembered I was trying to persuade others that you are an expert who can make an intelligent argument. Using big words just to sound smart often results in the opposite effect; it is easy to detect when someone is overcompensating in their writing. If I was unsure of the exact meaning of a word, I would use a dictionary rather than risk using the word incorrectly. Using obscure language could have also taken away from the clarity of my evidence. I took into consideration these facts before I pulled out the thesaurus or any other tool that was involved to change that perfectly good word to something completely different. The fourth step is to understand the argument and critically analyze the evidence. In the process of writing the essay, I always had the struggle with organizing the essay and staying on the topic of discussion. While it might be tempting to go off on a tangent about some interesting side note to your topic, I tried not to because I wanted my writing to be less concise. While completing the essay, I always question any evidence I included in my essay. I asked myself: ‘Does this directly support my thesis?’. If the answer was ‘no’, then I would exclude that evidence, or I would revise it to make it directly support my thesis statement. When I was evaluating the evidence, I was being critical and thorough. I wanted to use the strongest research to back up my thesis statement. Everything I included, I made sure it had a clear connection to my topic and the argument. The fifth and final step is knowing how to write a proper conclusion that supports your research. My conclusion is the paragraph that ties all my research together to prove my thesis.

In conclusion, the task to complete my project was to develop and logically organize the appropriate details and evidence to support writing focus, as well as to make connections between ideas. I may have struggled to complete the project, but I made sure I utilized the main five steps to enhance writing an essay. The most important thing to remember is that there is always room for growth. To be a successful person, I will never go through life. It is a must that I grow through life. I am beyond thankful for the hard times because they only made me stronger. I struggled with my senior project, but I worked very hard to the best of my ability. Every struggle that I have encountered in life has shaped me into the person I am today. My senior project was my experience that taught me something important and ultimately shape and greatly affected my relationship writing.

Finally, your big day has come. A moment in almost everyone’s life where you can celebrate your achievement, High school graduation. You’ve been looking forward to this moment since you were a freshman and now it’s here. You are super excited to take your next step in life and see what the world has for you. You feel prepared for college, you’ve learned everything there is to know about chemistry and calculus. As you are preparing to walk across the stage, you think about how much college is going to cost you and you have no clue how you’re going to be able to afford it. Your parents can’t help you because they are struggling out of their own debt due to medical bills. You realize after high school, you’re financially abandoned with no plan of how you’re going to repay your loan debt after college or even if you chose the right loans that won’t screw you over later. You consider waiting to go to college for a few years so you can have a little more money to help pay for the expenses. Though then you’d have to pay for other bills like rent and groceries. You never learned how to budget your expenses or file your taxes. How are you expected to do something you were never taught how to do?

Before getting into the argument I should also explain what Financial literacy is. Financial literacy, in my context, means the basic knowledge of personal finance and know how to make smart financial decisions. Some areas of study would consist of investing, paying for college, retirement planning, tax planning, and budgeting.

You should know that a high percentage of Americans are financially struggling. In fact, there’s an article written by Liz Frazier, titled “5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught In School” and published by Forbes Media. Frazier states that “Nearly half of Americans don’t have enough cash available to cover a $400 emergency” (par. 10). Many Americans are not living financially stable lives, due to the increase in costs of college and lack of learning about loans and paying them off. In fact, Frazier states that “millennials are starting their careers with a combined $1.52 trillion in debt” (par. 11). The younger generations are coming into the workforce with less financial knowledge and more debt than any other generation before them. With all this considered, although the Department of Education may not think it’s important, I believe that the Department of Education should require high school students to take a financial literacy course because it teaches responsibility, grants an equal chance at financial success, and it can help the economy.

One reason why the department of education should require high school students to take a financial literacy class is that it teaches responsibility. In fact, Frazier states, “Budgeting teaches awareness and responsibility. If someone has a budget that they actively manage, it forces them to look at their spending. They are aware of how much they have available, and this leads to making better spending decisions.” (par. 16). For example, creating and following a budget will create healthy habits for students to pick up. Almost like having a dog and taking care of it gives children a responsibility that they must deal with frequently. Personally, I know when my parents got me and my brothers a dog, I had a lot more chores to do like walking it, feeding it, cleaning it, and cleaning up after it. These chores didn’t directly help me learn any skills, but it did give me something to be held accountable for which lead me to hold myself accountable for my actions thus teaching me how to be responsible. Considering this, teaching responsibility is important because responsibility is an important virtue in learning. If more students can learn more efficiently, then they will be better prepared for graduation and overall success. This success will reflect upon the department of education through improved test scores and higher graduation rates. Another result of teaching students responsibility is that it creates an overall healthier environment of learning. Responsible students care too much about getting good grades and preparing for college to act insubordinately. Therefore, this is just one reason why the department of education should require high school students to take a financial literacy class.

In addition to responsibility, the Department of Education should make high school students learn financial literacy because it also grants all students an equal chance at financial success. There is a huge problem with financial inequality in this country. In fact, an article written by Stephan Schwartz, titled “Life, Death, and Financial Inequality” and published in Explore. The article states that “One in five U.S. households has zero or negative net worth. ‘Underwater households’ make up an even higher share of households of color. More than 30 percent of black households and 27 percent of Latino households have zero or negative net worth to fall back on” (Schwartz 9). In support, some people are born with less financial guidance and are given fewer opportunities to learn how to be financially responsible. For example, my parents didn’t directly sit me down and show me how to do taxes, but they did lead by example in the sense of being smart with their money and it showed me that if I saved when I was younger, I wouldn’t suffer as much later. A more extreme example could be that some kids are born into wealth and their parents are paying for their college and so they won’t have to worry about loans when graduating from college. Most parents can’t afford to pay for their child’s entire college education, so the student will have to deal with paying off loans and they might not have a clue what to do. As well, there are some students who are academically successful but financially get no support due to growing up in poverty. For example, Alex Yue Feng Zhu, Christina Wai Mui, and Kee Lee Chou are authors of an article titled “Improving Financial Literacy in Secondary School Students: An Randomized Experiment,” which was published in Youth and Society. Within the article, it states that “Family income is positively associated with financial literacy in young people, and youth financial literacy is, in turn, positively correlated to the amount of wealth they are able to accumulate in adulthood” (Zhu et. al. 3). Considering this, it is important to give these students an equal chance to financial success because high school is meant to provide each student an equal chance at success after graduation so equally preparing each student is the department of education’s obligation. Therefore, this is another reason why the department of education should require high school students to learn financial literacy.

Furthermore, another reason why the Department of Education should require high school students to learn financial literacy is that it could later help the economy. Financially smart adults tend to be more successful in their career decisions, meaning there will most likely be more opportunities for better jobs and a better economy. Employers want to make sure that you have an established life before they hire someone, financials are one of the biggest indicators of a responsible life. Things like your credit score can be a deciding factor of hiring you or not. So being financially responsible can give you an edge when applying for a job. Now think, if everyone was more financially responsible, more people would have more opportunities for jobs. Frazier says it simply, “More jobs, more money, and less debt are good for the economy as a whole” (par. 18). Having a healthy economy can be essential for education. If the economy isn’t healthy, the education system will pay for it. Budget cuts in the education system can lead to lower education quality. For example, the latest recession we had in America led to budget cuts for education. In fact, an article written by Daarel Burnette II, titled “Recession’s Budget Cuts Hurt Test Scores,” and published in Education Week. Burnette states “Researchers studied test scores of students in grades 3-8 in more than 2,500 counties and found that districts with the biggest budget cuts from 2007 to 2010 experienced a loss of approximately 25 percent of the expected annual academic gains compared with districts least affected by the recession” (6). The economy clearly reflects the success of education so its vital that the economy is healthy in America if we want our education to be proficient. In the end, this is the final reason why the department of education should require high school students to learn financial literacy.

The Department of Education and some educators may argue that adding another required course such as financial literacy is a bad idea because there are already too many general education classes already. As a former high school student, I understand where they are coming from. There are many courses I had to take in high school and some of them already seemed completely useless. In fact, David Ferrero wrote an article titled “Are Schools Trying to Teach Too Much?” published by Editorial Projects in Education. Ferrero states that “Educators can’t keep stuffing new content into current curricula willy-nilly without thoughtful deliberation over what knowledge and skills to prioritize” (par. 4). Next Ferrero goes on to say, “In order for teachers to integrate new knowledge and skills thoughtfully and coherently, we have to be a rethink and reduce the current course loads schools require” (par. 5). So clearly educators feel that students don’t have time in their schedule to take another required class. However, the Department of Education should consider that if there’s too much to learn in too little time then why are so many high school students graduating early? In support, there’s an article titled “Early High School Graduation Programs Gain Traction,” written by Kimberley Railey and published by USA Today. In the article, Railey states “Across the nation, fewer than 3% of students graduate high school early” (par. 8). Railey then goes on to say, “now early high school graduation programs are getting a boost at the local level” (par. 9). This is consequential to the fact that maybe high school might not be as rigorous as it needs to be. So why not one more required class?

Now, you’re back at graduation. You’re walking across that stage. You’re questioning if college really prepared you for life the way it should. Did you learn how to take out a loan? Or how to manage your money efficiently? Or even teach you how to pay your taxes? You could be arrested for tax evasion, something you most likely never properly learned about. But hey… at least you know the quadratic formula!

Works Cited

1. Burnette II, Daarel. “Recession’s Budget Cuts Hurt Test Scores.” Education Week, vol. 39, no. 7, October 2019. pp. 6. EBSCOhost. search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=138932734&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 9 November 2019.
2. Ferrero, David J. “Are Schools Trying to Teach Too Much?” Education Week, Editorial Projects in Education, 20 Feb. 2019, www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/07/20/are-schools-trying-to-teach-too-much.html?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss. Accessed 9 November 2019.
3. Frazier, Liz. “5 Reasons Personal Finance Should Be Taught In School.” Forbes Media, 29 August 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizfrazierpeck/2019/08/29/5-reasons-personal-finance-should-be-taught-in-school/#3ddb27d65178. Accessed 24 October 2019.
4. Railey, Kimberly. “Early High School Graduation Programs Gain Traction.” USA Today, 28 July 2013, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/27/early-high-school-graduation/2518817/. Accessed 9 November 2019.
5. Schwartz, Stephan. “Life, Death, and Financial Inequality.” Explore,
6. vol. 15, no. 1, February 2019. pp. 9-12. Science Direct. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2018.10.010. Accessed 9 November 2019.
7. Yue Feng Zhu, Alex, Christina Wai Mui, Kee Lee Chou. “Improving Financial Literacy in Secondary School Students: An Randomized Experiment.” Youth & Society, 29 May 2019. pp. 1-24. Sage Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0044118X19851311. Accessed 24 October 2019.

Recruiting in Easley, South Carolina

My name is SSG Dillon Bennett, and my paper is going to cover the recruiting market of Easley, South Carolina (SC) and Easley High School. Easley, SC is a rural area in Anderson County located in the upstate of South Carolina. Easley High School is a Tier One public school that is accredited in the state of South Carolina. The purpose of this paper is to break down my plan to conduct school programs and recruiting practices for the purpose of recruiting qualified applicants into the South Carolina Army National Guard (SCARING).

Demographics

The demographics for Easley, SC consist of 21,240 citizens. Of the 21,240 citizens, 35 percent are between the ages of 17 and 34. This is important to my recruiting plan because that means a little over 7,000 citizens of Easley, SC is potential applicants for the SCANG. In Easley, SC, 85 percent of the citizens have graduated high school. About 25 percent of students go on to complete at least a bachelor’s degree following high school. Easley High School does not administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) at the school. The average score for the SAT is 1100 and the average ACT score is 24. Easley High School has a graduation rate of 82 percent. The education information is important because it shows that a high percentage of the citizens are qualified for enlistment when it comes to education, with a large percentage of the high school graduates have continued their education and earned a graduate degree. This can be useful because we have a shortage of officer applicants in the state and recruiting more officer candidates could be an area of focus throughout the year. Easley High School does not have an ROTC program available for students to take part in. Easley SC has an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent and 12 percent of the citizens are without health insurance.

School Program

School Programs offered at Easley High School include football, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, wrestling, and volleyball. Providing the players and staff with team building and strength management activities has proved to be critical when building relationships with the team. The teams really enjoy it when we provide them with Warrior Fit and other physically taxing activities that enhance their physical fitness and improve their performance. Easley High School does not have a JROTC that would facilitate entry into the school. I also plan of being in my school at least twice a week conducting lunch room displays, talking with students and building relationships with the students so that I can be more approachable when I am there. I want to provide the school and students with valuable classes that will help them build a better life and career for them once they graduate high school.

Recruiting and Sustainment Plan

My first quarter’s primary focus for recruiting is the seniors of Easley High School. Easley High School has a senior class of 254 students making it easier to talk and mentor the majority of the students about SCARING. Support of the military shown by Easley High School makes my job as a recruiter a lot easier. By doing lunch room displays, warrior fit for the sports teams and informational classes will help break the ice with the students. I feel welcomed when administering classes and presentations to the students. My secondary mission for the first quarter is to focus on high school graduates and college students, especially the ones that recently graduated who still have friends at Easley High School. In my first quarter, I am going to focus more on college freshmen who are just starting their first year of college and realize just how expensive school is going to be over the next four years. I want to show college students the benefit of being in the SCARING as a Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) as well as the benefits of joining the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). My tertiary market for the first quarter is to focus on talking with and educating the prior service soldiers and the soldiers assigned to my unit Inactive Ready Reserves (IRR) who are on the fence about coming back into the SCARING. Soldiers who have been out of the National Guard less than a year tend to be more accepting of reenlisting due to missing the bonds that they build while serving with the same group of soldiers for multiple years.

My second quarter’s primary focus is going to be the high school juniors of Easley High School. I will focus on showing the benefit of joining SCARING as a high school junior and explain to them how they can be paid for two years of service while still attending high school. Along with the monetary benefits of being in the SCARING as a high school student, I like to show them that by the time they complete their training and high school their contract will be roughly 33 percent complete and they would be non-deployable through that time period. My secondary focus of the second quarter is to continue talking with the college students in my area, showing them all the ways that SCARING can help pay for college, and show how they can come out of college debt free and have a career in SCARING. My tertiary focus for the second quarter is going to consist of talking with the units in my area and getting information on the soldiers in the IRR. I will conduct weekly contacts of the IRR soldiers and conduct monthly talks with the units that I am assigned to find out the concerns of the soldiers who completed their service and how we help to get them back in.

My third quarter’s primary mission is to focus on my high school seniors, assisting with determining how they can pay for college, especially the ones who did not receive the scholarships or grants that were hoping for. I also want to focus on the students who in the past have been on the fence about whether or not the SCARING would be a good fit for them. My secondary mission for the second quarter is to focus on the high school juniors who are still on the fence but are still able to ship to basic training over the summer break. My tertiary mission for the third quarter is to continue to focus on my units and the IRR. I also want to focus more on the prior service members who have more than 8 years and no longer have a mandatory service obligation by showing them that they can enlist for shorter periods of time. I also want to take some time to visit the VFWs and get back into my community and visit with fellow veterans who may be eligible to reenlist.

My fourth quarter’s primary mission is to focus on contacting, and interviewing the glossary non-prior service applicants. I plan on doing this by contacting a minimum of 10 a week and finding out what is holding them back from fulfilling the original enlistment. My secondary mission for the fourth quarter is to get back in touch with the high school juniors who are now rising seniors to see what is causing them to have hesitation on joining. Over the summer I plan on attending the sports camps, running warrior fit with the teams that are practicing over the summer break such as football and baseball. I also plan of meeting with the guidance counselors and other staff to prepare for the next school year. I want to ensure that I am able to support Easley High School in any way that benefits both the school and my mission. My tertiary mission for the fourth quarter is to get in contact with the high school seniors who I was talking with prior to the end of the school year and see where they are at with their life. At this time a lot of high school seniors who have graduated are starting to figure out that life is expensive. My goal is to help show these graduates how scary can help them make money, go to college, and have a career.

Recruiter Zone

The utilization of the Recruiter Zone (RZ) is very important to maintain contact with the schools, students, and anyone whom I have talked with over the course of the year. Being able to set appointments, and follow up with contacts in one place is crucial to mission success. Using Recruiter Zone in conjunction with School Zone is going to help not only in the current year but in the future, especially when going to a school that has not been kept up with in School Zone in the past. Being able to view everything together while adding the calendar events for Easley, SC will help me maintain focus and come to work ready to be successful every day.

Conclusion

In conclusion, knowing the market of Easley, SC, and the demographics of Easley High School, along with the help of Recruiter Zone is going to set me up for success as a recruiter. By applying the tools I have been given and evolving my plan as time goes on, I will be pushed to be the best that I can be. Without a recruiter zone or a plan in place, I will set myself up for failure. By taking the time to be involved in both my school and the city of Easley, I will learn what I can do to have the greatest impact on the lives that I touch every day.

References

1. (n.d.). Easley High School Test Scores and Academics. Retrieved from https://www.niche.com/k12/easley-high-school-easley-sc/academics/
2. (2019). Army National Guard Strength Maintenance Program. Arlington, VA: Department of Defense National Guard Bureau.
3. US Census Bureau. (n.d.). Census.gov. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/
4. Bennett, D. J. (2019, August 12). Target Market Analysis. Easley, SC
5. (n.d.). Recruiter Zone, School Zone. Retrieved from krome.usaac.army.mil/

I first asked myself what is a defining moment. And I came to the conclusion that a defining moment is a point in your life when you’re urged to make a vital decision, or when you experience something that fundamentally changes you. Not only do these moments define us, but they have a transformative effect on our perceptions and behaviors. It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I like to name these moments in a person’s life, “defining moments”. In fact, like most people, I’ve had a few of these “defining moments” probably more than one person should. Growing up, some of my defining moments I had a hard time accepting. I would probably say my defining moment would be my high school Graduation.

To most people graduation can be an exciting time in a person’s life, for some it’s their high school graduation. When I think about my family and friends assembling together to mark a happy occasion, I know that I have accomplished my greatest objective. Graduation was never intended to be the culmination of my childhood and the start of adulthood. Graduating from high school was an influential event that gave me an altered outlook on my existence. I was overwhelmed by life before graduation, preparation for graduation day, and the beginning of reality. Life was a struggle for me before graduation. There was a lot happening at home starting off with the constant pressure to do well in my exams, to my parents having problems in their marriage, and also not being given any attention or love as a child. Also having to watch someone close to me die little by little everyday cause of cancer, I feel shaped me into a different person.

Graduation wasn’t that far off and it was about to strike me in the head like an arrow. Graduation is when seniors are met with one of the most significant events of the year. The staff put us in classes to keep all the students under the order. We all were divided into sections and labeled after letters and numbers. Soon after, all the senior class entered the auditorium in an orderly fashion. The practice had us recall memories of our freshmen to senior years. I saw a video that showed pictures of my youth to a young adult. I begin to think of the past and how much fun I had growing up. I also thought about how I would never see some of my friends again. After some time, the staff wanted us to practice walking across the stage. I didn’t quite understand why we needed to do this; I figured they wanted us to see how fast our life would flash in front of our eyes.

At last, the practice was over and I was able to go pick up my cap and gown. During this time, I thought about the next day and how it would be the end of another chapter in my years. Graduation day arrived and I had butterflies out of this world. It seemed as if I misplaced everything. I could not find my dress, I was late. I grabbed whatever I could and ran out the door and drove to my school as quickly as I could. While driving to school couldn’t help thinking about one of the most impactful influences in my life my grandfather. He would often say the most powerful things you can do in life is to make a decision and its an important part of growing up.