Just as a compass keeps a traveler on course, or points north for the lost, young Hoosiers need a sense of direction about where they are headed after high school.
For 17 years, Jobs for America's Graduates — JAG for short — has helped more than 40,000 Indiana youths find a path to employment or more learning beyond their K-through-12 education. The nonprofit program is nationwide, but state-based. High school students get specific training to develop needed job skills and career orientation. JAG alums also receive follow-up coaching for a year after graduation.
JAG is a coming-of-age compass of sorts.
Among the beneficiaries are students in Vigo, Vermillion, Parke, Sullivan, Clay and Putnam counties — Region 7 of the Indiana JAG program. Its participants range from young people whose gradepoint averages or attendance need improvement to valedictorians, as the Tribune-Star’s Sue Loughlin reported this week.
JAG’s primary goal is to ensure its participants graduate. Yet there is more to it than that. “We also want to make sure they have a plan for after graduation,” Greg Lee, the Region 7 JAG manager told Loughlin.
Such a strategy is more important than ever in Indiana. The state is in the midst of a “generational low” in terms of its rate of high school graduates going on to college.
Indiana’s college-going rate stood at 65% in 2015. That means more than 6 in 10 Hoosier high school graduates went on to college. That plunged to 53% in 2020, a statistic partly explained by the norm-shattering COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, Indiana’s rate continued to flat line at 53% in 2021 and 2022, according to the most recent numbers released in May by the state Commission for Higher Education.
The college-going rate has been static despite statewide efforts to guide high schoolers toward college, according to a Chalkbeat Indiana report. The work continues, though, including automatically enrolling low-income high school students in the state’s gem 21st Century Scholars program, and sending “pre-admission” letters to high schoolers outlining every Indiana college they are academically eligible to attend.
JAG can help guide young people toward college or a job. Michael Flood, a 2024 Terre Haute North High School graduate, exemplifies JAG’s effectiveness. So does Kassie Wade, a 2024 Indiana State University grad.
Last fall, Flood returned to Vigo County as a high school senior for the first time since sixth grade. He lacked a group of close friends at North, but found those in the school’s JAG chapter. He also got guidance on practical life skills, like paying bills, interviewing for jobs, crafting a resume and team building. He graduated, has a steady job, and is enrolled at Ivy Tech, where his business administration studies could lead to a job or a four-year college degree.
Wade experienced JAG at Cloverdale High School, where she developed confidence, networking skills and a plan for college. It worked. At ISU, she completed an internship, helped schedule a championship-level athletic event and served as an emcee at Sycamore basketball games. She earned her degree this spring as well as the faculty’s 2024 Sport Management Student of the Year award.
Both JAG alums are heading in a good direction. Indiana’s talent pool and workforce can also find a better direction by continuing its support of JAG and complementary programs.
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