DEP Staffer Shares Stories with Students
DEP Staffer Shares Stories with Students
WV Department of Environmental Protection Newsletter
November 2009
The Department of Environmental Pro-tection?s George Mitchell took part in an event where he shared his military experiences with to-day?s young adults.
The Take a Veteran to School program was started last year by Sen. Rockefeller in an attempt to link veterans with today?s young people.
“I went to Capital High School, where I sat on a panel with five other veterans,” Mitchell said.
“The students asked us questions about our military and war time experi-ence.”
The questions var-ied, but some were:
“If you had the chance, would you go back into the mili-tary?”
“Where?s some of the places you were stationed?”
“Did you miss your family?”
Mitchell learned about the Take a Vet-eran to School pro-gram through his involvement with the American Legion. He is the vice com-mander for the state of West Virginia.
“I heard about this program and thought it would be a great opportunity for me to tell my story to others besides my family members,” said Mitchell, who was in the Army from 1987 to 1997 and in the West Virginia Army National Guard from 2001 to 2004.
“I took part in the program because I?m a proud veteran from West Virginia who served my country and will do it again,” Mitchell said.
The program, in its second year, took place in 13 schools across West Virginia.
“Each year, they pick different high schools to take the program to,” Mitchell said. “I will take part in the program again next year because I will be able to tell my story to another school.”
The veterans? stories are being preserved for future generations to read and learn from.
“Concord University video recorded all the stories for the Library of Congress and History Channel. The History Channel will air some of these stories in Decem-ber,” Mitchell said.
“Uniforms can only be worn by those who are still serving in the mili-tary,” Mitchell said. “So when I spoke to the stu-dents at Capital High School, I wore dress clothes, but I had on my American Legion hat.”
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