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Niagara Airman goes above, beyond to educate kids about Reserve

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Andrew Caya
  • 914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. --  Palmyra Macedon Middle School in Palmyra, N.Y. hosted a "career day" in late September and the Air Force Reserve was well represented.

The school invited people from a wide range of vocations to come and show the children about different careers. One of those people involved was Tech. Sgt. Wendy Curry, a personnel craftsman with the 914th Force Support Squadron here at NFARS.

"I volunteered ahead of time to see if the principal and vice principal would be interested in having a United States armed services member at career day," said Curry, who in her civilian career is a sixth grade special education aide at the school.

Curry said she went right to work. She set up displays of materials and photos from her deployments overseas, as well as different uniform items for the kids to try on and show them about her experiences in the U.S. Air Force. Curry also went to different armed forces recruiting offices, told them about what she was doing, and was offered different military promotional items from each recruiter to give to the kids.

On the day of the event she set up an obstacle course in the school gym which the kids were able to navigate, and taught the children how to salute and march.

She also bought balloons and cards to give to the kids for a special purpose.

"I had them write on the cards letters to the troops and we attached them to the balloons, went out to the soccer field and we let them off," said Curry. "I have a cute picture of them saluting the balloons as they floated away," she said with a laugh.

Even though career day was more than a month ago, Curry said that faculty and staff at the school have said how much her presentation is still affecting the kids.

"The kids are still talking about it," she said. "The principle came up to me and asked if I would be interested in doing this again next year because she said I did such a phenomenal job."

Members of the unit here at the base have also taken note of Curry's efforts.

"Sergeant Curry had a very exceptional idea," said Master Sgt. Charity Edwards, 914th Force Support Squadron first sergeant. "In a few years these children may be able to step up and take up the mantle of today's veterans leaving the service after their commitments are up; and Sergeant Curry could have been the one who stirred their interest in serving."

For both the audience and presenter, career day was a great experience.

"It was so rewarding to do this," said Curry. "It was so exciting to see these kids and their faces, asking me questions and being able to pick things up and look at them and put my Kevlar helmet and boots on."

This event was a great place to share the Air Force story to a group of children that ordinarily might not get a chance to visit a military installation.

"What Sergeant Curry did was to reach out to the community and give these kids an opportunity to see something they normally don't get to see; she brought the base to them," said Edwards. "It is great that Niagara has a member like Sergeant Curry who can influence kids in such a positive way on a day to day basis."