There is definitely a buzz going around the City these days and why blame them.  Their Chiefs are 3-0 for the first time since 2003 and NASCAR is in town for the third leg of the Chase.  Everyone is smiling and people here seem generally happy.  It been a great experience for the first two days on the trip.  It's been an interesting couple of days in that the event's this week are quite different from what I've been doing.  I've spent the last two days attending Career centers along with the U.S. Army sponsored number 39 Chevy Impala NASCAR owned by Stewart Haas racing.  To give a few specifics on the car before I talk about the Schools, it weighs 3400 lbs and a small block 358 that produces close to 800 HP and can reach speeds between 195-200mph depending on the type of set-up and type of track whether its a short track or a super speedway.  Mr. Bob Headlund is the man in charge of the up-keep as well as the hauling of the car to the different tracks around the country and to all the different events where it is showcased.

    Monday's visit was to the Excelsior Springs Area Career Center.  The center has students that attend from a multitude of other High Schools in the area and we were able to see well over 300 students.  The faculty was well-prepared and the students were very respectful to not only myself but the recruiters and Mr. Headlund who has an outstanding presentation.  We had a total of 262 students fill out papers requesting more information on the Army which is awesome.  Most of these young men and women who attend the center to learn life skills ranging from HVAC to diesel mechanics to early childhood development had no idea that the Army had jobs available that either match what they are currently learning or one that closely fits to what they want to do with their future.  People still gets amazed every time they here that we have over 150 jobs available to choose from depending on your test scores.  After listening to the presentations from myself, the driver and SFC Stepp the recruiting station commander for the area we got the students to participate in a little bit of physical training.  We did a few push-ups and a few core exercise.  They were very interactive and a lot of fun to speak to.  Pretty much every students participated in the spin to win and left with some type of Army prize with a few students deciding to trade push-ups to get a t-shirt.  Overall it was a great experience and I'd like the students for their cooperation and motivation as well as the faculty and the local recruiters who have asked me to host a future soldier event on Thursday so more to follow on that.
 
    Tuesday's event went equally as well.  We visited the Northland Career Center in Platte City.  Again we saw around 300 students and had 126 fill out sheets asking for more info.  One of the best parts of the day was getting the chance to interact with a group of special education students who were interested in what was going on.  They had such joy on their faces when Mr. Headlund started telling them about the car and what its capabilities are.   I got my chance after him to shake their hands and talk to them for a few minutes about me and what I did.  They all left with a T-shirt and a smile.  I think they made my day as much as we did theirs.  We also got the opportunity to speak to some middle school students from Ms. Gina Calvin's class who were ironically studying the different senses and how they relate to writing so they got the honor of hearing the car start, the way the exhaust sounded and fueled smelled.  Hopefully it will make for some interesting stories in class.  Ms. Diane Whitmer's class which study Early Childhood Development also came out and asked a lot of great questions about the Army and what its really like.  Since most them wanted to be teachers it was a great opportunity to talk about the Army program called Troops to Teachers in which we basically make you a soldier, you get college paid for and then the Army helps with a portion of your teaching salary.  It's a great program and I definitely encourage those of you out there interested in a teaching career to check out and read up on it.  Once again, the students and faculty were awesome and the local recruiting station there was very well prepared and knew all the ins and outs to every question that was asked.
 
    I'm looking forward to tomorrow's event and Kansas University and then to the races this weekend.  Will update in a few days.  Feel free to post comments or questions.  Always ready to answer any questions you might have about our program or the Army in general.  Look forward to hearing from you.