Golden Apple: Barry Leveretter

Master Sergeant Barry Leveretter served our country for 23 years in the United States Army. For the past 12 years he’s been shaping future leaders here at Denmark Olar High School.

“Our children have a lot going on right now,” Leveretter says. “Anytime you have a chance to make a difference in a child’s life, you almost have to take that opportunity.”

The school year is just getting started and these cadets are already making great strides.

“This program is about leadership, communication, helping them grow. Just becoming a better citizen.”

Master Sergeant Leveretter gets to see those former cadets become outstanding citizens. Some of his first students are now pushing 30-years old.

“They’ll still come around, just saying hello. Or they might return for homecoming or a football game or whatever. And sometimes just needing a letter of recommendation for jobs and other types of endeavors they may be having. So I see them quite a bit.”

The goal is not to get everybody to enlist after they graduate. It’s to give them life skills.

“I always tell them, you may be sitting in that dream interview one day. And if you haven’t you haven’t been taught, speak up, eye contact, those type things, then you might lose that dream job.”

These young leaders are on the right track to success. Thanks to the hard work of their dedicated teacher.

“When they come back and say hello,” he says. “Come back and thank you for what you’ve done. There’s nothing better than that. I have a wall with some former students on it and I look at that wall sometime and just think about who they were when they were here, and they great things that they’re doing right now. And I like to think I played a small role in that.”