Career day ‘a fabulous success’
Motlow student Jennie Sellars has been contemplating a bold career move. She’s thinking about enlisting in the Marines.
To add to the excitement, Sellars is trying to convince her friend, Tiffany Young, to join too.
“She’s wanting me to go with her in the buddy program,” said Young. “I’m thinking about it.”
Marine recruiter Brian Vinciguerra was more than happy to provide his sales pitch. And the Career and College Day at Motlow’s McMinnville center Tuesday morning provided the perfect opportunity.
“I’m looking for a way to pay for college, so I’m looking for a rich guy,” Sellars said.
“Well if you can’t find that rich guy, remember Uncle Sam is pretty rich too,” said Vinciguerra.
Sellars said she was seriously considering joining the Marines, but at the same time was apprehensive about being sent to Afghanistan. Vinciguerra said by joining the military – in a time of war – that was a very real possibility.
“There are women over in Afghanistan right now,” he said. “They are air traffic controllers, they are tank mechanics, and they are doing a lot of things even though they’re not picking up guns as front-line soldiers.”
Marine representatives occupied one of about 10 booths at Career and College Day. Holland Employment, the Social Security office, Taft Youth Center, MTSU, Tennessee Tech, Primerica Financial Services and the Southern Standard were among others in attendance.
McMinnville resident Alan Wyatt was representing Primerica Financial Services. He currently works out of the company’s Murfreesboro office. Wyatt said he received nibbles from about a dozen people interested in employment at Primerica, a company which could soon be offering several jobs locally.
“We’ve got offices in Cookeville and Murfreesboro and are looking to expand to McMinnville and Manchester,” said Wyatt. “We usually employ 12 to 15 people per office. The challenge for me is finding the right people.”
It was the first year Motlow had held a Career and College Day at its McMinnville campus. Organizers were pleased with the initial turnout.
“I’d say it was a fabulous success,” said Motlow’s Suzanne Ruddell. “We probably had over 100 students and the directors are already talking about next year so that’s good.”
Ken Preiser works primarily at Motlow’s main campus in Moore County where he has conducted Career and College Day for a number of years. Preiser said he expects the event will grow once it becomes more established.
“It’s an outstanding community service,” said Preiser. “Next year it will be bigger and better. The key issue is we get people here talking about careers and thinking about jobs.”