JAG-K points HHS students toward careers

From left: HHS JAG-K students Hayden Giebler as the red blood cell, Cydney Howell, Aihxel Alcaya and Karina Carrillo sign people up for upcoming Red Cross blood drives.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Hays High senior Karina Carrillo is looking forward to graduation. She is passing all of her courses, and she looks forward to studying nursing next year.

“I want to help people,” Carrillo said.

Carrillo is in her second year of Jobs for America’s Graduates-Kansas. She spent a year in the Salina program before transferring to HHS. She said she really struggled in school before the JAG-K program.

“I passed my junior year because of JAG,” she said.

She also said she had no idea what she wanted to do for a job after graduation before she connected with JAG-K.

This year, Carrillo is the president of the HHS JAG-K Career Association.

The JAG-K program, which is new at HHS this year, provides assistance to students who have risk factors that might put them in jeopardy of not graduating. The program also focuses on preparing for careers after high school. Thirty-eight students in grades 10-12 participated in the program first semester and several more will likely be added in the spring.

JAG-K students complete a team-building exercise in class. Courtesy photo

The JAG-K students visited NCK Tech this semester and teacher Johnny Matlock said several students said they were interested in study nursing through the NCK-Tech program after that visit, including Carrillo.

“I think we had several students who for the first time really had a direction for the career they are interested in,” Matlock said. “When we came back, I was hooking students up with KansasWorks for students who were interested in going to culinary school or getting their CNA, so we were looking at funding for that. It was neat to see them pumped up about doing that.”

Aihxel Alcaya and Hayden Giebler also said they were interested in studying nursing.

Giebler said he thought the JAG-K program is preparing him to go on to nursing school.

“It has taught us a lot of communication skills,” he said. “I feel like you need that to go anywhere in life. … And leadership skills. We have learned a lot by going out to the ropes course at Fort Hays, and we have been working together in teams.”

Alcaya and Giebler, along with Cydney Howell were working as a team Monday to sign up students, teachers and staff to donate blood during the upcoming Battle of the Badges during the week after Christmas and the first week in January.

None of students had participated in a community service project before.

HHS JAG-K students completed the FHSU ropes course this fall. Courtesy photo

Matlock said the project has helped the students learn how to talk to people on the phone as well as in person — good practice for when they will be interviewing for jobs. The students did presentations on their Battle of the Badges project to Hays Police, Fire and EMS departments. They have also made a commercial for the Tribe radio station.

Howell said every year she failed at least one course, but this year she is passing all of courses and has a 3.6 GPA thanks to the help of Matlock and the JAG-K program.

Howell wants to be a tattoo artist and hopes to intern with a professional through her connections with JAG-K.

In addition to NCK-Tech, the JAG-K students toured businesses in the community and will tour more in the spring as well as participate in job shadowing.

“It think it opens their eyes to what is out there,” Matlock said.

Learning about potential careers is motivating the students in their high school studies, he said.

“I think it is connecting the dots that this does have meaning,” he said. “This is a step they need to go through in order to get to that post graduation goal they are interested in.”

JAG-K students visited NCK Tech during the fall semester and several expressed an interest in studying nursing after graduation. Courtesy photo

Matlock continued, “I think already we have had some lightbulb moments. I can look at their attendance. I can see what it was last year and see what it is this year, and their attendance has improved. It think we will really see results after our program has been up and running for a year or two.”

The Kansas Trio program of Great Bend will make visits to the HHS this spring as well. Trio focuses on job skills, financial literacy and career exploration. It will help college-bound students fill out financial aid forms and work with the students on test anxiety among other workshops.

JAG-K is a national program and offers regional, state and national career development conferences. The HHS students will be able to compete in eight events in the spring, some of which include public speaking, math skills, employability and entrepreneurship. Carrillo won a second place in the regional competition in employability last year.

Matlock said he sees the program growing as community awareness grows.

“I think we are going to see more and more opportunities open up for the program as we make those community connections and business connections and as people learn about the program,” he said.

Battle of the Badges

You can assist JAG-K in their work to recruit blood donors during the holiday season by donating during the Red Cross Battle of the Badges. Times, dates and locations are listed below.

• Wednesday, Dec. 4, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m at the Ellis County Administrative Center, 718 Main St.

• Thursday, Dec. 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Midwest Energy, 1330 Canterbury Drive.

• Saturday, Dec. 29, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday and Saturday Jan. 4 and 5 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Big Creek Crossing, 2918 Vine St.

Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to make an appointment or for more information.

As a special thank-you for helping meet the urgent need, those who come to give Dec. 20 through Jan. 6 will receive a long-sleeved Red Cross T-shirt, while supplies last.