Educating the Educators: Marine Workshop

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Sydney Haulenbeek, Editor in Chief

On January 30, Michael Danley, Kempsville High School security assistant, attended the 12th Annual Marine Corps Educators Workshop on Parris Island, South Carolina. Danley is a veteran, having served 22 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, and while he wanted to attend the workshop prior to 2019, this was his first time.

The workshop walked educators through what recruits would experience, even standing in the yellow footsteps that every Marine stands on before going through training.  

Michael Danley with his drill sergeant during the 12th Annual Marine Corps Educators Workshop

During the first day, educators were treated like recruits, going through classes and facing sandpits.

 

“They break us down to build us up,” Danley said.

 

In the days afterward, once teamwork was established, educators got to speak to recruits, go through basic weaponry training, see graduation and experience a “Family Day,” where recruits were reunited with their families, crunching the 13 weeks of training that recruits go through into three days of the four-day program.

 

“It educates the educators,” Danley said. “They show you why when someone says, ‘I’ve served in the Marine Corps,’ why they’re proud of that service. Why they look fondly upon that. Because that’s something they’ll never forget.”

 

The goal of the workshop was to challenge skeptics, and while Danley originally pursued the program in order to see a different side of the military, it still changed his perception of the Marine Corps.

 

“They want skeptics. They want people who doubt the Marines. They want people who [say], ‘I would never tell my students to join the Marines.’ The idea was to change their minds. And listening to some of the educators by Friday, it changed their minds. They totally, completely changed their outlook on the Marine Corps.”

 

“And it changed my outlook on the Marine Corps. I never understood why people say they loved the Marine Corps. I was Army; I’m proud of my Army service, but I wanted to get an in-depth look at why Marines or former Marines are proud of that service. And I found it. I saw it. I experienced it. I even thought afterward, ‘You know what, maybe I should have done the Marine Corps.’”