A group of nine high school juniors and seniors from Beaver Local High School visited the 911th Airlift Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station on March 11, spending a day immersed in military career experiences as part of a program designed to show young people that U.S. Air Force Reserve has a long and wide runway for landing a career.
The Future Path program, now in its second year, pairs students from rural and urban communities with professionals across military, civilian and private sector fields. The goal wasn’t recruitment but exposure. Exposure to unknown career fields, challenges they wouldn't hear about in a classroom, and future goals that are well within reach — if they know where to look.
"The Future Path 2025 is a program that introduces high school juniors and seniors from rural and urban communities to military, civilian, and private sector career opportunities and talk to people in those fields to learn about the journey taken to be in that career field, successes attained, and future goals," said Richard Saphore, 911th AW Chief of Resources and Beaver Local High School tennis coach.
Students rotated through a career fields, visiting different work locations across the installation. Steel Airmen shared not just what their jobs entailed, but how they got there — challenging any assumptions that success follows a single prescribed path.
One recurring theme: career changes. Several Steel Airmen described starting in one specialty and pivoting to another entirely, evidence that the Air Force Reserve offers its members room to grow into roles that fit who they are, not just what they aspired to be at 18.
Special Agent Jon Twitchell, now assigned to the 10th Field Investigation Squadron, walked students through his own trajectory — starting off as a Air Force firefighter to becoming an agent with the Office of Special Investigations.
Capt. Cole Anderson, 911th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron flight nurse, said his hopes for the students extend beyond filling his own unit's ranks. He wants them to leave thinking seriously about their futures — aware of the benefits the Air Force Reserve offers and the opportunities that come with service, whether they end up in his squadron or somewhere else entirely.
"I know health insurance and retirement benefits are the last thing on their minds right now," said Anderson. "but that'll change after a few years in the work force."
After the round-robin conversations, students toured a C-17 Globemaster III with the fleet's crew chiefs, and received a brief from a recruiter.
The visit built on a successful inaugural year. Saphore credited the 911th AW community for helping expand the program's reach, generating interest in schools beyond BLHS.
"My heartfelt thanks and appreciation goes out to all the professionals that assisted in last year’s program and the visit resulted in some of the students changing their career path from what they learned and people they spoke to," Saphore said.
Aaron Walker, principal of Beaver Local High School, said the program fills a gap that standard job fairs and recruitment events don't.
"Our kids have access to all sorts of job recruitment type things, but we're thankful for this specific program," Walker said. "Rich [Saphore] started talking to me about it a couple years ago, bringing a group onto the base. He designed the whole process."
Walker said the experience mirrors something he believes is fundamental to adolescent development — the power of seeing the world through someone else's lifestyle and career. That exposure doesn't have to lead directly to a profession to leave a mark. He recalled speakers who visited his own school when he was a teenager — business professionals, people from fields he never pursued — whose influence stayed with him regardless.
“Seeing what's possible opens doors in the mind even when they don't open in life, " said Walker. “And if some students come away wanting to raise their right hand? That would be great, too.”