Duckworth shares career insights with Plum Grove students

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth recently served as the keynote speaker for Plum Grove Junior High's annual Widening Our World Day.

W.O.W. Day is a career day event that provides students with information and practical knowledge about careers they might want to pursue.

The day, which has an impact on students long after they graduate from Plum Grove, is all about helping children understand that there are many potential careers awaiting them, and that they are responsible for planning out and achieving their own successful careers, said Kerry Wilson, Plum Grove's principal.

During her W.O.W. Day address, Duckworth discussed her political career, but many of her remarks related to her military service and work on behalf of veterans.

Duckworth shared with students the story of how, while deployed with the Illinois Army National Guard to Iraq in 2004, she lost both of her legs when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. She explained that, while growing up, she had never wanted to be a helicopter pilot.

As a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Northern Illinois University, though, she listed that as her first assignment preference because it was one of the two or three combat positions available to women serving in the U.S. Armed Services at the time. Duckworth did so, she said, because she felt it was unfair that the men with whom she was serving had to list a combat assignment among their top preferences, but the women did not.

Duckworth said that upon entering her pilot training, instructors repeatedly told her that women make great helicopter pilots because they tend to excel at multi-tasking. She said they asked her if she knew more women interested in serving in that capacity, and on multiple occasions during her address, Duckworth encouraged Plum Grove's female students to consider helicopter pilot as a possible career.

Duckworth also shared how this tragedy led her to a career in Congress. During her recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, she became an activist, advocating for better medical care for wounded veterans and their families. Then, upon the encouragement of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and President Barack Obama, who was a U.S. Senator at the time, she sought to further her efforts on behalf of veterans by entering politics. In 2006, she ran for Congress but lost narrowly and instead became director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs.

In 2009, though, President Obama appointed her to the position of assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Then, in 2012, she was elected to Congress, representing Illinois' 8th District and serving as the first disabled woman ever to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Following Duckworth's remarks, W.O.W. Day transitioned into smaller sessions featuring more volunteer speakers from throughout the community. Each student selected four presenters and spent the afternoon listening to them explain what it takes to excel at their careers.

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