The Vicksburg Warren School District provides students with the " Four E’ s,” which are four exit strategies for graduates: Employed, Enlisted, Enrolled, and Entrepreneur. This initiative ensures that every student has a clear and viable path to success after graduation, whether they are entering the workforce, military, or further education, or starting their own business.
Warren Central and Vicksburg High School cheerleaders at convocation, welcoming faculty and staff..
participate in college visits, and complete their college applications FAFSA( Free Application For Student Aid).
A student who chooses " Entrepreneurship " will develop a relationship with their business mentor while creating a business plan and financial strategy.
A student aiming to enter the workforce directly after high school will prepare their resume, engage in mock interviews, complete internships, and connect with an employer mentor to help develop their career plan.
A student who wishes to enlist in the U. S. Armed Forces will prepare by participating in and successfully completing all levels of JROTC, satisfying entry requirements, and connecting with a military recruiter.
Dr. Holloway once asked a group of employers, " How many of you have had to fire
46 • THE VICKSBURG POST & VICKSBURG-WARREN COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
somebody because they couldn ' t factor a linear equation using the quadratic equation?" His point was made when the business owners agreed they were more likely to fire someone who couldn ' t be at work on time.
Such common-sense life skills are taught at the Hinds Maritime Academy, where Travis Moll leads a class for newly hired deckhands with hands-on training. The facility opened in November 2024 and includes classrooms and outdoor setups that would be found on an actual boat.
The students, hired by maritime companies such as Golding Barge Lines, Big River Shipbuilders, Magnolia Marine, and Ergon Marine and Industrial Supply, learn the basics of being a barge deckhand.
As Moll trained five " green deckhands," he urged them to use their natural throwing skills to loop a 2-inch-wide cotton rope onto a bollard, a short, sturdy post found on a dock designed to secure boats.
" Drop, tug, drop, tug, everything ' s gotta be pulled tight," he said, as the students threw the rope.
The training course lasts five days. Students are exposed to a wide range of situations, from putting out fires to CPR to understanding maritime security and cooking meals.
" These guys are ' deckoneers,'" Moll said, referencing a new term for deckhands. " As they move up through the ranks, they ' re being taught how to service main engines, how to service the generators, how to swap generators, how to service the MSD tank,( the septic system on the boat), how to grease rudders and do barge and engine senexes— they learn all this as the deckhand moving up, because once you ' re the mate, you ' re in