WINDSOR, Conn. –
The Connecticut Army National Guard’s Recruiting & Retention Battalion, in conjunction with the National Guard Bureau, gave high school students from Windsor High School and AI Prince Tech the opportunity to learn more about the career opportunities and benefits of serving in the National Guard through immersive, hands-on and virtual reality experiences.
“Mission Day” is a National Guard funded educational experience designed to give high school students a unique insight into military service through interactive experiences in tactical operations, hazmat cleanup, night vision casualty evacuations, virtual reality firefighting and CPR, and more.
“Every student who came through had so much fun,” said Staff Sgt. Nicole Logodicio, a recruiting and retention non-commissioned officer. “They made little challenges out of it, too … it was great to build teamwork, camaraderie, and just bring all the students together. I saw students there that didn’t really know each other but they were working together as a team, which was really nice to see.”
Logodicio also said she thought the firefighting station was the most popular, where students raced each other to put on firefighting equipment before performing a “buddy drag”, simulating the act of pulling someone from a hazardous area, like a fire.
In the middle of the gymnasium, the Connecticut Army National Guard recruiters had a table set up where they could answer any questions the students might have about military service and the benefits that go along with it.
“A lot of interest came from [the National Guard’s] tuition waiver,” said Logodicio. “There’s a lot of students that are in their senior year that just committed to a lot of state schools … some of them weren’t sure how they were going to pay for college.”
Enlistment in the Connecticut National Guard allows every Guardsmen, both Army and Air, a 100% free college tuition waiver to any state college or university. Additionally, any high school student who enlists is eligible for free preparation for college-level examinations, standardized tests, and other career-based testing programs.
“There were a lot of students that came up saying they were interested in getting into nursing, so [the National Guard Bureau] definitely brought the right type of simulations to the event,” said Logodicio. “There were a lot students that told me they either got accepted into UCONN or Southern’s nursing program, so I told them service in the National Guard might align with what their goals are at the end of the day.”
In addition to providing information about the opportunities and benefits of service in the National Guard, the recruiters on hand also felt Mission Day was a great opportunity to help educate these young men and women on what the National Guard is and what it does.
“I feel like every school should get to experience this at least once because a lot of people don’t realize exactly what it is that we do and they don’t realize how much fun we actually have doing it,” said Logodicio. “I think this event was a great reflection of that because there were a lot of us there together and having fun with it. I think [the students] saw that and it was intriguing to them because a lot of people see the uniform and think it’s some scary thing to have to commit to. It was a great way to reflect what the National Guard is.”
Of course, it wasn’t just the Connecticut National Guard recruiters who were having a good time. In fact, they gave credit to the National Guard Bureau team who came in and did most of the heavy lifting, giving them the opportunity to focus more on engaging with the students, rather than worry about running the stations.
“Everything was perfect down to the setup, down to the guy on the mic the whole day, he really did a great job keeping the students engaged and getting them excited,” said Logodicio. “They even did push up challenges, planking challenges, a lot of fitness challenges. We didn’t even really need to ask people to do it, they just came up to us and they were like, ‘we want to get in on this’.”
For more information about the Connecticut National Guard, visit their website at ct.ng.mil.