JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
U.S. Service members assigned to the 1st Operations Support Squadron at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, have come together to provide guidance and mentorship to high school students in the Hampton Roads area.
The Real Access to Diversity team began visiting Hampton High School in March, making an instant impact on the younger generation, according to U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Terrell Rogers, co-founder and chair of RAD.
"[The students] see us walk in as successful, respected military members," he said. "We immediately saw results. There were kids acting out and as soon as we walked in they straightened up. [The team] may change somebody's life. If sees nothing but a warzone at home, then sees a positive reflection from RAD, we've accomplished our goal."
Rogers developed RAD with the intention to help the youth in Hampton Roads and provide opportunities for high school students to interact with Service members from nearby installations.
"[The team] was a concept that started out with meeting the kids, providing mentorship and giving them a window of opportunity," said Rogers. "The next thing was to see how we can add to their curriculum with experience and everyday situations from our jobs and how it relates to them."
According to Rogers, RAD provides three experts from each of the seven career fields within the operations squadron which are, aircrew flight equipment, air traffic control, intelligence specialist, aviation management, aircraft radio systems and weather, to mentor and demonstrate how math, engineering and technology are used daily while conducting their jobs.
Additionally, the program is in its infancy and Rogers and his team are still analyzing the data and feedback. He is optimistic that by August, the RAD team will continue to receive requests from the schools his team visited.
"The goal is to be active in all four schools, but that's a huge step from now to then," said Rogers. "It has been a challenge trying to get the information out to the schools and letting them know what we're attempting."
After the program and team has built a solid foundation and relationship with the local schools, Rogers wants to see RAD expand to other installations and other states.
"Our long term goal is to keep this partnership going so it doesn't start today and end tomorrow," said Rogers. "We want this to be an enduring relationship where 20 years from now, Langley Airmen are still going to Hampton High School, and other installations, such as McConnell and Tinker, are doing this in their communities. We take great pride in knowing we created something that can last for a long time."
Getting Airmen interested in joining RAD has not been a difficult task since helping others is human nature, according to Rogers.
"What's been so beautiful is that I don't have to force this to anybody," said Rogers. "I tell people what we're doing and they want to jump in and participate because it's a worthy cause. We're doing what we set out to do, and that's making somebody else a better human being."