Almost every high schooler wants the chance to gain more insight and experience to a prospective career field. This summer, I, along with 22 other students from the Houston County School District, got that chance as part of the Robins Air Force Base Student Pathways Program.

The two month-internship opportunity, which was recently revived this summer, allows students to work part-time or full-time with a variety of mission partners across the base.

“About 10 years ago, the Office of Personnel Management updated their hiring process and eliminated the ability for Robins AFB to work with the Houston County Youth Apprentice Program to identify and direct hire high school students based on the Youth Apprentice Program director’s recommendations,” said Renee Daughtry, 78th Mission Support Group School Liaison Program manager. “Over the years, the school liaison has requested options to re-establish the YAP but kept hitting roadblocks due to OPM hiring requirements.

“When Col. Deedrick Reese, our 78th Air Base Wing commander, took command, he made it clear that one of his strategic goals is recruiting and retention, along with building community partnerships,” she said.

My time was spent with the 78th ABW Public Affairs Office. It intrigued me, even though I aspire to be a speech pathologist. Unfortunately, at the time, an internship in the speech pathology field was not available.

Nevertheless, my time in PA was valuable. It’s fascinating how this team contributes to sharing the base’s story.

The office is composed of a Command Information section, which is comprised of public affairs specialists who create stories about the base, and photographers and videographers who document events through photos and videos; a Community Relations section, which fosters connections between the base and the local community; and a Media Relations that serves as a liaison between the installation and the media.

My favorite tasks were taking and editing pictures and videos of various missions on base. I honestly did not think I would like this type of work. My first set of pictures were rough, but the pros here gave me lots of good advice on how to improve my images through better angles and lighting and encouraging me to be creative.

Now when I grab a camera, I ask myself “How can I make this photo or video look spectacular?” or “How can I show the world what I want to see?” This helped boost my confidence and I am very thankful that I was able to learn and experience so much in this short period of time.

Warner Robins High School student Linh Nguyen, a rising senior, shared similar enthusiasm for her time on base. She worked in the Human Resources Office of the 78th Mission Support Group and is considering a career as an accountant, a budget analyst or a tax specialist.

“Doing this program, has helped me kind of see a little bit into how it works,” she said. “For example, the accounting jobs dealt with money, calculations and lots of documents. There is a lot of cross-checking – ‘Is this the right form here and completed correctly?’

“There are daily or weekly reports you have to complete because the money is always changing,” she continued. “Someone is always going to be needing something, especially on such a large base as this; there is always someone putting in money or taking out money. So, there is a whole lot of things that happen daily or weekly that you need to include in a report.”

This unique internship is something I will always remember and would encourage other students to pursue.

For more information on the Student Pathways Program, contact Renee Daughtry at [email protected].