By Zach Spicer
Jackson County Industrial Development Corp.’s third annual Jackson County JAG Day was March 31 at the Jackson County Learning Center in Seymour.
Thirty-three Jobs for America’s Graduates students from Brownstown Central and Seymour high schools attended along with their JAG specialists, Michelle Brock of BCHS and Celeste Bowman of SHS.
Jobs for America’s Graduates is a state-based national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping high school students of promise who have experienced challenging or traumatic life experiences achieve success through graduation. The resiliency-building workforce program helps students learn in-demand employability skills and provides a bridge to postsecondary education and career advancement opportunities.
During the morning, the students split into groups and rotated between four workshops. Job search/postsecondary was led by Tina Hacker and Yesenia Otero with Pet Supplies Plus. Health care was led by Jena Hanks with Healthy Jackson County and Carrie Schryer and Paul Ramsey with the Jackson County Health Department. Financial was led by Sehrish Sangamkar and Ricardo Gamboa with Centra Credit Union and Amanda Barlow and Derek Green with First Financial Bank. Living skills was led by Maci Baurle with Jackson County United Way and Jeri Wells with Seymour Housing Authority.
After lunch and networking, JCLC Director Amy Heideman led each school group on a tour of the learning center. Then the students split into teams and played trivia. Walmart gift cards were given to the winning team.
We would like to thank JCLC for hosting the event, the JAG students and specialists for attending, Sandra Wehner with River Valley Resources for attending, the local business professionals for leading the workshops and Seymour Walmart for donating food and drinks.
