Marcus Gomez challenges himself by joining Army National Guard

Marcus Gomez came to Springdale Job Corps Center in July of 2013. He had graduated from South Medford High School in Medford, Oregon with an eye on a career in law enforcement and corrections. His friend referred him to Job Corps and he realized his career goals could be achieved with the Protective Services training offered at Springdale.

“I knew what kind of career I wanted,” Marcus explained. “Job Corps was a great opportunity that would get me that much closer to my goal.”

As part of his training, he completed 180 internship hours at the Yamhill County Youth Detention Center. “I feel like I can be a positive influence on them,” he said. He knew he wanted to work there and after a short time in another position, he applied and was hired to work in youth corrections.

Marcus completed his training fairly quickly. His instructor at the time, Chris Furrow, who is now Springdale’s Security and Transportation Manager, describes Marcus as being very focused. “He would stay late to study a specific point of law or to make sure he understood something on the Department of Public Safety Standards Training test.”

Marcus credits the staff at Springdale for keeping him motivated and pushing to keep him on track. “Really the staff kept me going. They reminded me of what I was there to do and encouraged me to challenge myself.”

As part of that desire to challenge himself, Marcus joined the Army National Guard after he graduated. “My family served, there was structure there, and I wanted to serve.”

When asked what his future holds, he said he plans on staying with Yamhill County. It’s a stable job, but more importantly I feel like I’m doing something good in the community. I’m working with young offenders who I can maybe encourage to make some changes in their lives.”