The Marines are looking for a few good youths.

Local United States Marine Corps recruiters were on Sequim High School’s campus last week, challenging them to some pull-ups and talking to them about considering a career in the services.

Sgt. Christopher L. Kemp, originally from Montana but now stationed in  Camp Pendleton in southern California, says he and other local Marine Corps recruiters visit schools about once a week. “High schoolers are dropping out at a phenomenal rate,” Kemp says. He encourages students to join the Corps’ early enlistment program. From then on, he says, it’s his responsibility to see those youths graduate. “If we don’t have educated young men and women, where are we going as a country?”