Argos students Hear Success Stories
By Anthony Gadson
ARGOS � Being successful is what every hard-working American aims for. The hard work must begin while in school.
Argos High School students had living examples of had two local success stories visit on Thursday morning.
Don and Jill Long Thompson made appearances to the high school to speak to three classes of students.
The Thompsons live in Argos, and are actually neighbors with a couple of students, so the two didn�t need directions to find the high school.
Don spoke to the students about his career as a commercial pilot and Jill spoke about her career in politics.
Jill is not only running for 2nd District in the US House, but is also remembers going with her mother, door-to-door, to register voters when Jill was in the first grade. She said that as a young child she didn�t see herself becoming a politician in the male-orientated profession. She then dared the class to guess what she thought she would become as a child.
�I dreamed of becoming a professional baton twirler,� Jill laughed.
Baton twirling wasn�t in her future, but after listening to politicians speak at a college, she realized what she wanted to be.
She said that she thought then she had a better understanding of economics than they did. She then decided to run for City Council in Valparaiso as a Democrat in a Republican-dominated area . . . and she won.
�I went to about 1,700 to 1,800 homes asking people to vote for me,� Jill remembers. �I even went to homes where they weren�t registered to vote and asked them to vote for me.�
The theme of the speech was to not give up on what you want. Jill talked about losing elections, but every time something negative happened, something else would occur to benefit her career.
�Every time a door closes, another door opens,� Jill observed, �it might not be what you wanted, but it�s another opportunity.�
Jill said that the best part of her job still is meeting people, but acknowledged that sometimes she is expected to talk too much.
�Some people think you have an answer for everything, but you�re only human,� Jill Long explained. �Sometimes just after eating dinner people will want me to say something, when I wasn�t expecting to talk�.
Don has been flying since 1971, spending seven years in active duty for the military and 22 years working for airlines.
Don�s main emphasis during his speech was that no matter where a student is from, the student can still succeed.
�We both grew up on dairy farms in rural Indiana competing with bigger schools,� Don said.
Don had always thought that his being from a small school would stunt how far he could go in life. He had always thought that the kids from bigger schools would have something that he didn�t. He found out later in the Naval Acad-emies that that wasn�t the case at all.
�Attention to detail at Argos gives you a leg up,� Don said. �Kids at bigger schools are told that they are on the ice-skating team, so they go through school thinking that�s who they are.�
Among many other questions, the students asked about how much gas an airplane needs, if he was flying on September 11th 2001 and what it took to be a pilot .
Don went to Purdue University and studied agricultural economics, intending to become a farmer. Having a career to fall back on is important in a pilot�s line of work.
�You need to have good health to be a pilot,� Don explained, �But if something happens you need to have something to fall back on.�
Flying off of aircraft carriers in F16s is still Don�s favorite flying experience.
�It�s like hitting the last shot of a basketball game every time,� Don illustrated.
Speaking on behalf of success was the main priority for the visit by the Thompsons. Hard work was a key element in each speech.
�You have to put your nose to the grindstone and don�t plan on vacations,� Don added.
�There are three things that you need have in order to be successful: Hard work, honesty and being nice to people,� Jill concluded, �You need to have all three.�
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