National Guard visits Chester High School
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[SFC Dane Patterson of the Sparta National Guard Unit visits Chester High School and other local school several times a year. Recently he visited all lunch periods at CHS on January 17 to talk to students about life in and benefits of joining the National Guard.
Patterson told students that they can earn a paycheck at age 17 while in high school if they are of junior status. Salaries for high school students start at $13.00 an hour which translates to $192.00 for one weekend a month. Basic combat training can take place between the junior and senior year.
Students can also receive a four-year tuition package to any state-funded college in Illinois. Students wanting to attend a private university can use the federal grant program. Students can receive $339.00 a month for going to college for 12 semester hours. Such an arrangement can save students over $90,000.00 over the course of a college degree.
The National Guard also allows students to serve their country and community which can be very rewarding as a high school student.
Patterson further reminded students that there are numerous job opportunities with military preference points. This means that National Guard status gives applicants a head-start or preferential treatment when shopping for jobs down the road. State job applicants receive three points which are added to a test score just for being in The Guard. Veterans receive 10 preferential points. Guard members are also considered to be good risk applicants on job resumes.
Guard members learn valuable skills which can be used in the work force once discharged and there are free seats available on many flights in the U.S. for Guard members.
The Guard Recruiting Assistants Program (GRAP) is a further valuable tool for members to utilize. Any Guard member who refers another person to join the Guard receives a $2,000.00 bonus. $1,000.00 is distributed once the friend goes to basic training while the second $1,000.00 is allotted once the friend returns home following training.
Finally, Patterson states that students can take advantage of the Student Loan Repayment Program which gives each member a onetime $50,000.00 amount to help repay college loans following graduation.
Patterson intends to visit CHS at least once or twice more during the Spring semester and he plans to be a participant at the 2012 Chester High School Project Graduation. He will offer several action games and events in which students can participate during the Project graduation event.