Unlimited Possibilities

Charles Cheadle: Developing a Career After College
(Taken from an address at the 2004 State Convention)

Charles: Hello. Hello. Does anybody want keys to a submarine? For about two months now I’ve been working at the Baltimore Maritime Museum, which is located on Piers 3 and 5 in the Inner Harbor. The museum is made up of a coast guard ship from World War II, a World War II submarine (which sank the last enemy war ships of World War II), a lighthouse, and a light ship, which is like a lighthouse on a boat. 

I got this job because I was doing some job searching after doing the WINGS program with BISM, which is five weeks of independent living skills–Braille, computer, all kinds of fun stuff for teenagers. Part of that program was to do a four day sail on a Baltimore Skipjack, which is a sailboat. We did the sail, and I was really jealous because all the kids got to do all the work on the boat – steering, hoisting, and lowering the sails.  I thought, “I’ve got to get me a job like this.” This is pretty fun, working with kids. I thought I liked boats before, but I totally fell in love with them then. I got home from WINGS, and I put together my résumé. I hadn’t worked for a while, and I thought I’ve got to get me a job working with boats and kids. I applied for a job for the company that ran it, the Living Classrooms, and they told me they weren’t hiring yet for the next season. This season ends in November and they said, “Apply again in December and we’ll see.” And I thought, I don’t have a job now. I probably can’t wait that long. Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t be too happy if I just bummed around without a job. I started talking to some people and saying and explaining that I wanted to find a job with boats and kids, and they said the Maritime Museum, which is part of the Living Classrooms, runs overnight programs for youth groups - boy scouts, girl scouts - and it’s on a boat. And I thought, oh boats, kids, that’s pretty cool. So I applied and I had an interview and I guess they liked me. They hired me and then they asked if I’d like to be a tour guide also during the week.  So I would be a tour guide during the week and I would lead overnight programs on a submarine or a coast guard ship on weekends, and it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been really great, and I don’t think I would have found this job or realized my interest if I had not done the work with the blind teenagers doing the WINGS program.