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This program provides High School students with information about non-military opportunities after graduation. Its function is to remind students that there are ways to make one’s way in the world, ways that, unlike military options, are not heavily advertised.

The project occurs in two stages: first, we schedule visits with guidance counselors to provide them with the materials we have, and, second, we table at the schools during lunch hours to provide the information directly to students. We have visited the guidance counselors in all of the high schools in Athens, Meigs, Vinton, and Morgan counties. Our reception has been good.

The materials we have cover a wide range of career options including apprenticeships in the trades, opportunities to serve one’s country - such as Americorps and City Year, jobs that are increasing, niche jobs that might appeal to certain students because of their special interests or experience, opportunities for service abroad, environmental jobs, etc. The center piece of the material is a booklet published by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) (http://www.afsc.org/Youth&Militarism/).  The information packet we provide to guidance counselors also contains information about the military that recruiters do not provide, for instance a copy of the contract recruits sign, the small print of which points out that any of the agreements of the contracts can be changed unilaterally by the military, including duration of service.

We plan on increasing our tabling efforts during the next academic year. We hope to make 3 to 4 visits to each high school. Through repeated visits we hope to become familiar enough for students to approach our tables and seek out the information we have. Volunteers are needed to do tabling 3 or 4 times a year. People living in the neighborhoods of the particular schools and graduates of the schools are especially welcome, as are veterans, whether their experience in the service was positive or negative. It is simply important for students to have the information necessary to make informed decisions. Sufficient familiarity with the issues can be gained by reading the material in the packets. Call the APJN office if you would like to participate or if you know someone you would like to recommend for us to contact as possible volunteers.

At Vinton County High School, the guidance counselor, Kellie Abele, has put us in touch with students interested in an effort to address issues of conflict among students. We’re talking about organizing a peace camp which would be a retreat for students to explore issues of conflict management and non-violent communication.

The project began after John Howell attended a conference put on by the Dayton Office of the AFSC about this kind of effort being done in other parts of the country. The cost of materials and of some staff support has been defrayed by a grant from the A.J. Muste Institute of New York.  We hope to expand this project to other high schools and college campuses.