Richard Ireland came to Dayton Job Corps in June of 2014. Richard came to this center with the goal of completing the Carpentry trade and entering the military. Overcoming obstacles is nothing new for Richard. He was raised by this mother until the age of 15, when he moved with his father. By moving with his father, Richard started to feel his life was on the right path. Things started to go downwards when his father unexpectedly passed away, and he was left without stable housing. At that time, Richard came to Dayton, Ohio where he had family members. He bounced between staying with friends and different family members. He was in search of stability and direction, and began to look into programs to assist with that. After hearing about Job Corps, he decided to give it a try. While on campus, Richard was not a perfect student. However, he was able to acknowledge these issues and respond more appropriately to situations and relationships with staff and students. Mr. Ireland was a leader in his Carpentry class, and was also a member of the Student Leadership Program.

               Richard was relentless in his pursuit of joining the military. His father had been a member of the United States Navy before he passed away, and this inspired him. Richard often wore his father’s old Navy pea coat around center, and was very vocal on his plans to follow in his footsteps. He quickly passed the ASVAB exam and met with recruiters from different military branches to decide which he would chose to enlist. Richard did everything requested of him by his United States Army Recruiter and often would meet with his recruiter to work out and prepare for boot camp.

                Richard completed Dayton Job Corps in February of 2015. He quickly went off to basic training for the United States Army. Since completing basic training and AIT, Richard has been stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado. He is a member of the 4^th Engineer Battalion and works as a supply clerk with Forward Support Company. Richard is an example of a student that struggled to find the right path for himself, but was able to stay movtivated and driven to be a success.