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W-WMS Corner Pendrey's diverse background yields life lesson for students
Although Pendrey was born up north, he grew up in Florida. He graduated high school at the age of 17 and attended college for a year. The Vietnam War was going on at that time, and he spent four years in active service, stationed in various places throughout the United States. He was stationed in Texas, Illinois, South Carolina, and Arkansas. He was in Southeast Asia for a year and also spent time along the Canadian border. Although Pendrey loved the military, he did not love military life. He was an aircraft electrician and decided that he needed a change. He attended Florida State University where he graduated with a degree in criminology. He served as a deputy sheriff in Palm Beach Co., Florida. Later, he moved to Miami-Dade County, where he worked areas in which the crime rate was rampant, including Liberty City. He stressed the point that what one sees on television is not necessarily the way it is in real life, and he related stories that illustrated how often law enforcement officers are faced with conditions that require extreme survival tactics. He emphasized that the reason to join law enforcement agencies is not to carry a gun or to cite people for traffic violations, but rather to help people. In fact, in the high crime areas that he worked, very few traffic citations were written due to the fact that people were shot and cut and faced other life-threatening situations as daily occurrences.
Following an injury, he eventually got out of law enforcement and went to MCG and trained as a physician's assistant. With a heavy background in science, he gained teaching certification in that area. Later, as he looked for farm property in this locale, he was granted an interview for an assistant principal's position here. Pendrey was hired by Joyce Williams as her assistant administrator, a position he held for four years. Currently, he has been principal for the past two years and will continue as such for the next school term. The lesson about life that he passed on to the students was to "Think for the future. Remember that you're not the same person at age 60 as you are at 25, and above all, consider your interests and abilities. Learn all that you can about careers so that you can make an intelligent and informed choice for your future."
Students were allowed a question-and-answer session following his talk, and they wish to thank Pendrey for such an informative lesson.
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