Walter J. Squalls doesn’t see the same qualities in today’s children that were necessary to carry his generation.

And though he’s often disappointed in what he sees, he saw glimmers of hope at Robert Lewis Middle School Friday.

Squalls, the first black beat officer for the Natchez Police Department, was one of approximately 30 speakers at the annual RLMS career day.

“They were very active in asking questions,” he said. “Everybody was focused. I know that they were taking it in.”

Squalls told three classes of seventh- and eighth-graders about his struggle to get on the police force and his time walking the beat in the 1960s.

“They asked a lot of questions about how it was back then,” Squalls said.

“I told them you had to do what you were told to do.”

This generation wouldn’t have what it takes to fight through the ’60s, Squalls said.

But that’s not bad, just different.

“We still must instill in them the right things to do,” he said.

“There’s a right way and a wrong way.”

Squalls, like many of the Friday speakers, stressed education to the students. He also told them to dress neatly and be prompt.

The importance of an education was a message eighth-grade student Travis Cole understood, he said.

“You’ve got to have an education to get where you want to be,” he said.

“You can’t just be what you want to be. You have to go to college to get there.”

Students heard from medical professionals, ministers, law enforcement personnel and city and county leaders. The most asked question centered on salary, said Bennie Boone of American Medical Response ambulance service.

“But they also asked ‘what happens if an ambulance has a flat?’” she said.

Boone attended the event to expose students to a portion of the health care field they may not consider, she said.

“(Emergency Medical Service) is a wonderful field of health care,” she said.

“It’s still relatively new and so many this age don’t understand it.”

Friday’s was the 11th annual career day.