JC Breakfast Optimist Club’s Guests Were From The JCHS JAG-K Program

JC Post, Nov. 15, 2023 – Click to view the original article

Guest speakers at the November 15 JC Breakfast Optimist Club meeting were from the Junction City High School’s Jobs for America’s Graduates – Kansas program. Willie Woods is the Instructor and Career Specialist for the program and Tyra Marteen is the Regional Manager. Taveion Mapes is the JCHS JAG-K Vice President; Alexis Philippi is the President and Carie Longshaw is the Secretary of the local high school program. Each elected officer had to go through a campaign followed by voting and their election to their respective offices.

Woods explained to the Optimists that “there are about 120 students in the program. Students at Junction City and Fort Riley Middle Schools, the Karnes and JCHS buildings make up the JAG-K program designed to provide career exploration, life skills, interview skills, resume writing workplace survival skills, leadership development, decision making and more. This is a four-year class in which all students may be eligible.  They take field trips to Concordia, Manhattan, Topeka, Ellsworth, and other locations to expose students to different cultures and experiences.

To be considered for the JAG-K program students have to meet certain criteria in different categories. Some of those include academic performance, personal and environmental issues, social behavior, and others. Willie Woods further explained that his job “is to teach and find resources to help students develop their skills to be quality employees, employers and positive contributors to society.”

Alexis Philippi recently participated in a national competition for JAG students. Some of the areas in the competition included interviewing skills, employability skills, solving a project-based issue, financial literacy, working as a team and others. The event was held in Orlando, Florida where she placed third in the national competition.