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FORT LEE, Va. (July 21, 2016) -- Paralegals in training here are getting a glimpse of advanced Army schooling with the introduction of a professional reading program.
Sgt. 1st Class James Fredlund, a senior instructor at the Judge Advocate General’s Paralegal Specialist Training Center, said he wanted to introduce the program after experiencing it at a master leader’s course he attended as part of a pilot program.
Any Soldier who attends the school – regardless of his or status – is eligible to participate in the professional reading program. It’s purely on a volunteer basis, said Fredlund. Students choose their book in week three and finish it by week nine. During the last week of training, they are encouraged – but not required – to write an essay. The student with the best essay receives special recognition at the group’s graduation ceremony.
The program has been ongoing since April and about 25 percent of the students participate, said Fredlund.
“The paralegal course is 10-weeks long and there are 17 different exams,” he said. “A lot of the students are bogged down with the coursework, but this program is just something to set them apart.
“Ultimately, that’s what we want to start here at advanced individual training,” Fredlund continued. “Once they start to progress and move to other advanced courses, they already have those good habits in place. We want them to seek out those types of self improvement.”
There are 12 books offered, and they are mostly related to leadership topics. Many can be found on the Chief of Staff of the Army professional reading program book list.
Another part of the program – that they are making a requirement for the course – is for all students to read the constitution, said Fredlund. After polling the classes, they found few people had actually read it.
Fredlund said with the introduction of the program, it starts to align the enlisted training more closely to the Soldiers’ officer counterparts.
“In all of the training these Soldiers will go through, they have to be able to read and write,” he said. “So, I wanted to introduce something that encouraged them to use those skills early in their career.”
One student – Spc. Jemehl Williams from the Virginia National Guard – participated in the reading program and completed an essay while he was in training. He read “The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell” by Oren Harari … twice.
“I thought it was a good opportunity, and it gave me something to do in my downtime,” said Williams. “I loved it. It was great! It was definitely something outside of the norm I wouldn’t normally read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Pfc. Kristina Melton – a Soldier from the Nebraska National Guard – said she participated to have an extra challenge, and chose to read “Band of Brothers” by Stephen E. Ambrose.
“I wanted something extra to do to develop myself professionally,” she said. “I typically read fiction, so the war-related books were different than what I normally read. I really loved the book.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.21.2016 09:16 |
| Story ID: | 204583 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Paralegal school starts reading program; gives students glimpse of higher ranks, by Amy Perry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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