Fifth-graders' tour opens eyes to career opportunities at FBI

Special Agent Ryan Kennedy shows a bomb-blast helmet to fifth-graders from Gibbs Elementary School during the students’ field trip to the FBI’s Little Rock office.
Special Agent Ryan Kennedy shows a bomb-blast helmet to fifth-graders from Gibbs Elementary School during the students’ field trip to the FBI’s Little Rock office.

Kennedy Carpenter is considering being an author or artist when she grows up.

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Little Rock Special Agent David Resch answers questions Friday from Gibbs Elementary School fifth-graders in Little Rock as he stands in front of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.

But after a Friday visit to the FBI's Little Rock field office, the 10-year-old realizes her interest in code breaking might provide a good career path, too.

Kennedy was one of several students in two fifth-grade classes from Gibbs Elementary School in Little Rock who toured the bureau's local office during the office's first Fifth Grade Friday, a morning field trip created to introduce students to the bureau.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give [the tour] a 10, because code breaking is basically what I would like to do in the FBI, and to learn more about it ... was pretty awesome," Kennedy said.

The new Fifth Grade Friday program is intended to encourage students to make good life choices, to inspire and spark students' imaginations, and to interest students in a possible future in law enforcement.

"The work we do here requires ... a high level of education," David Resch, special agent in charge of the Little Rock office of the FBI, told the students.

"Things you're starting to learn now, we want you to keep learning because we want you here with us."

Resch said the FBI is struggling in some areas to find young people who can pass the bureau's employment security clearance, and the new endeavor shows "what a good education can do and [encourages students] to make the right choices that keep their options open in the future."

The two-hour guided tour opened the bureau's office to the students, including a visit to the office's museum and learning center. Along the way, different agents shared with students how the bureau uses computer coding, science, technology, engineering and mathematics in its mission.

Oddities of the bureau's sleuthing also were on display, such as an Igloo Playmate cooler with a hidden camera inside.

The FBI's use of technology and its high-tech evolution weren't lost on several of the students.

"I really like technology, and I think it's really cool that you can do so much stuff with a computer and a robot," said Langston Key, a 10-year-old with an interest in computers and coding.

"It's pretty cool how much stuff happens here. I didn't know how many jobs you could get here."

The students even got an opportunity to pepper Resch with questions.

Resch answered each and every one, including questions about how far bombproof technology has advanced and what the FBI would do if it won the lottery, when Resch joked that it would replace some outdated cathode-ray tube TVs in the testing-and-training room with flatscreens.

Fifth Grade Fridays are open to fifth-grade classes throughout the state, said Deb Green, a spokesman for the office.

Green said the rest of the Fridays are scheduled through the end of the year, but the office is booking fifth-grade classes for 2016.

"We want to offer fifth-grade students a peek into what their futures could hold and capture their imaginations to do well in school, set goals and strive to reach those goals," she said.

Kennedy was impressed by the bureau's armored vehicle, bomb-disposal robot and other technological features in the office, but what fascinated her the most was some of the bureau's wanted posters.

"I liked looking at the criminals ... they had on the walls," she said. "That was pretty cool. When you look at a criminal in a picture, you don't see a smiling face. You see a mad face, like, 'Aw, man, I don't want to be here.' That kind of face."

State Desk on 10/03/2015

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