Feb. 22
February 5, 2007
Bernice Hughes
February 7, 2007
Tri-Parish Times
Area National Guard soldiers set up shop on the campus of Terrebonne’s Vocational Technical High School last Wednesday, in a recruitment trip designed to sell the Guard’s benefits to area high school students.
But the recruitment process was not just about verbal selling, as the National Guard landed a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on the school’s campus, offering students a hands-on opportunity to experience the popular unit. “We just set up the Blackhawk over here to kind of show some of the kids the options in the guard,” said SSG George Clark. “The things the guard can do to benefit them, including educationally and financially.”
The recruitment trip offered many high school students from the area a chance to hear what the National Guard offers. “Generally we get most of the people from the schools, which came out today,” said Clark. “What it produced, we don’t know yet. We get them to fill out a questionnaire and tell us if they’re interested. We won’t know what it’s turned out until we get back to the office and look over some of that.”
Over the past several years, the National Guard’s recruitment in the Houma area has not wavered. According to statistics, between 20 and 30 Houma residents sign up annually.
Clark said the recruiting process is done as often as possible. “It’s a matter of trying to find the place and trying to get the cooperation of the schools and everything,” he explained. “But as often as we can, we like to come out and tell them about the Guard.”
For this particular display, Clark said it was Vo-Tech principal Marcel Fournier that helped to make it happen. “Mr. Fournier over at the Vo-Tech … we came talk to him, and he was real willing to work with us and help to get us out here.”
Clark added that most of the recruitment trips are done within the schools. “Most of the time, we do lunch displays at the high schools,” he said. “We try to do things like this as often as possible. Besides this, we go to the high schools and try to talk to some of the kids. Just sit down and tell them about some of the benefits of the Guard as often as we can.”
