Connor Hicks is a young man with goals and aspirations. As the 17-year-old prepares to begin his senior year at Henderson Collegiate, he’s got his eyes not just on graduation, but on what he’ll be doing after he gets that well-earned diploma.

In order to graduate, Henderson Collegiate requires its seniors to complete a project. Hicks was doing a little online research using resources from school counselors and he came upon something that piqued his interest: the Governor’s Page Program.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity so I applied,” Hicks said on Tuesday’s TownTalk.

He was part of a group of fewer than a dozen others selected to participate in the program during the week just following Memorial Day. He spent May 28-31 in Raleigh and said he got to visit different departments of state government and see how government functions and who’s in charge – from the governor and lieutenant governor on down.

He didn’t get to meet Gov. Roy Cooper, but Hicks said he did learn how to be a better teammate – “how to be a member of a team.”

He may want to review those notes if his post-graduation plans come to fruition as he hopes: if all goes according to plan, Hicks will be joining the U.S. Marines.

“He makes me and his dad both real proud,” said his mother, Margaret. “Since he was about 11 or 12, that’s all he wanted to do – go in the service.”

His dad served in the Navy, he had uncles in the Army and his brother was in the Air Force, but Hicks said he’s got his sights on the Marines.

“It makes me feel like I’m doing something that’s bigger than myself,” he said, adding that he takes pride in knowing that he will be part of a branch of the military service that will defend the United States and its freedoms.

“It makes us really proud that he wants to go and serve his country,” his mother said.

Learn more about the Governor’s Page Program at https://governor.nc.gov/governors-page-program.

 

 

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