Education professionals, from Clark County School District in Las Vegas, taking part in the Educator Orientation Visit (EOV), toured Training Support Center (TSC) Great Lakes and learning sites (LS), Sept. 14.

The purpose of the visit is to create good relationships with schools and the recruiting commands. These connections are often the key to finding the best and brightest next generation of Sailors. Educator orientation visits provide educators and school administrators a first-hand look at Navy life to better inform them about the opportunities a career in the Navy has for their students.

"Our main goal is to provide Navy awareness to the educators communities that are located within our recruiting district to help them understand the benefits of students exploring careers in the Navy, or any armed service branch," said Erin Abram, education service specialist for Navy Recruiting District San Diego. "It opens their eyes to what is available in career and education paths. This tour, we visited Training Support Center, the Learning Sites and Recruit Training Command. The educators were able to see where their students will be going immediately after high school graduation. For that reason, I feel that this is one of the best tours out of all the tours available."

The visit demonstrated the training used at TSC and LSs that provided 24-hour supervision, leadership, training and professional development of accession Sailors prior to their arrival to the fleet.

Their tour began at student indoctrination's life skills training. Sailors arriving on board from boot camp attend the training before any rate-specific courses. Subjects taught in the course cover issues such as sexual assault intervention, military pay and entitlements, healthy relationships, navigating stress, operations security, banking and financial management service, and responsible alcohol use.

"The life skills curriculum is designed to give Sailors the tools and resources to succeed in the fleet and beyond with the skill sets needed to thrive as adults," said Lt. Katy T. Bock, staff and student training coordinator at TSC. "The training is an important first step in these young Sailors' lives, some of whom have transitioned directly from high school to the Navy; not having much knowledge of these skills."

At Surface Warfare Officers School Unit (SWOSU) Great Lakes, staff led a tour of the training facilities of Basic Engineering Common Core (BECC).

"I always enjoy showing off the training our staff accomplishes working with the technology and training curriculum," said Cmdr. Eric Williams, commanding officer of SWOSU. "It also gives us the opportunity to let educators know the opportunities that are available in the Navy so they can take that back to their students."

BECC balances computer-based training with hands-on training labs, instructor-led classroom training with realistic simulations creating an Integrated Learning Environment (ILE). They also visited the Purifier Lab, LPD 17 Maintainer Course, and Engineman Apprentice School.

At Center for Surface Combat Systems Unit (CSCSU), the EOV group toured gunner's mate 'A' School's Fire Arms Training Simulator and the T1 RADAR partial task trainer.

"Getting the opportunity to show educators around the nation how we efficiently and effectively prepare new Sailors is a tremendous privilege," said Lt. Drew Serrecchia, executive officer of CSCSU. "This visit enables us to provide a snapshot into how we are leveraging technology to stay current with the needs of today's fleet sailors while being responsible stewards in today's fiscally constrained environment."

The final leg of their tour of TSC and LS was at the galley's Windy City Cafe where they enjoyed lunch with the Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions (CSADD). CSADD put junior Sailors in a position to stop their shipmates from making decisions that will have negative impacts on their life and their Navy career. The program is geared toward Sailors E5 and below, between ages 18 to 25. They promote positive choices and develop leadership through organizing local social networks, facilitating discussion, producing visual messages, promoting community involvement and hosting recreational events.

Attendees liked that they learned a lot of information about what it is like in boot camp and "A" School so they can take their experience back to their schools and share it with their students.

"The tour was a great opportunity for our group, as educators, to learn more of the process of basic training at Recruit Training Command and the continued education they will go through at Training Support Center and the Learning Sites," said Adam Zakos, athletic director at Valley High School. "In the Navy, they will be taught job skills and life skills; things they can use in lives even after they leave the Navy. This has been a very impressive process to go through and I recommend it to any other educator who has the chance to take part in a visit. The information I will be able to provide to my students will be invaluable."

Educators were also impressed with the trade and life skill training provided to Sailors.

"The tour was amazing," said Patty Eliason, teacher and athletic coach at Eldorado High School. "There is a lot that happens here that I was not aware of. It is interesting to see what happens from the time they get off the bus in boot camp until they exchange their recruit cap for a Sailor cap when they graduate. It was very patriotic. I'm excited to take back to my students the different things they can do with their life. Working in a low income school, sometimes my students think that, even though they are smart, they cannot do anything with their life because they do not have the money or opportunities. Well they really do, and the Navy is one area they can explore for opportunities. The Navy is not as scary as they may think as long as they are prepared ahead of time."

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