Operation Preparation is a joint effort of the Kentucky Department of Education and the Department of Workforce Development and provides a powerful opportunity for schools, students, parents, and communities to collaborate in the process of effective advising and assisting student to focus their attention on the importance of planning for their college and/or career. This year, Russellville Junior/Senior High School’s Operation Preparation event occurred on Wednesday, March 30, from 8:15-11:45 at the school. During this event, 8th and 10th grade students visited and rotated through different career cluster presentations that were designed to help our students become more career focused and oriented. The goal was to help them to be mindful of potential careers when choosing courses and pathways during high school. We have nearly 40-50 community members, parents, alumni, and others who volunteered to spend the morning at RJSHS assisting our students. Maurice Hampton, better known to many as, “Squeaky”, a Russellville Alum, was a presenter and also the guest speaker. He now works for a pharmaceutical distributing company, McKesson Plasma, which serves hospitals, VA facilities, retail, and specialty pharmacies. His sales team consists of two teams, customer service team and sales team. Customer Service deals primarily with customer issues such as invoices, returns, credits, damaged products, etc. The sales team is broken into 12 territories managed by account managers. Mr. Hampton’s role is to help support his supervisor and team with customer-related issues on the sales team, help train and develop new hires, and working closely with leadership and management! A list of representatives attending Operations Preparation follows: Chuck Rogers of Edward Jones; Russell Paul of Pauls Electrical; Shane Hayes of Gerald Printing; Chase Ingram of Ingram Trucking; King Simpson of Logan County Library; Brooke Milam Phillips of Probation and Parole; Cheri Smith, Superintendent Intern of Russellville Independent Schools; Phillip Ferguson of the Fire Department; Sandra Sykes and Sgt. Anthony Grimando of the US Army; Carol Elliott of Ventra Plastics; Tracey Gilbert and Nathan Thompson of First Southern National Bank; Tim Nugent, Pastor of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church; Chris McGinnis of WRUS; Mary Carrell of Service One Credit Union; Shane Holinde of WBKO; Jaime Saul of Saul Portrait Design; Ashley Jones, Josh Denton, and Jessica Adams of Orthopedics Plus; Maegan Dorris, Clinical Coordinator of Medicine of SKYTEC; Tim Johnson and Dave Brown of Logan Aluminum; Aaron Smith of RJ Corman Railroad; Brent Summers of Summers, Kirby and Sanders Funeral Home; Brooke Lowe of Daymar College; Kathy Thweatt of Barren River Health Department; Elisabeth Teel, Lawyer; Leon Smith, Superintendent of Russellville Independent Schools; Larry Vaught, Musician; Donna Wilkerson, Author, Lawyer, and Legal writer; Bethany Kinney, RJSHS School Nurse; Marie Gamble, Health Services; Greg Whitson, cattle farmer; and Vickie Watson, goat farmer. Instrumental in planning this event are Principal, Kim McDaniel; Assistant Principal, Jennifer Myers; Guidance Counselor, Rex Booth; and Youth Services Director, Debbie Browder. Thanks to those of you who have generously volunteered your time to participate in our very successful event.