By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Marshall Perryman was a C student in his freshman and sophomore years, but he was able to raise his GPA three letter grades since joining a new mentoring program at Hays High this fall.
He is now vice president of leadership and career development for the JAG-K Career Association.
Johnny Matlock, Jobs for America’s Graduates-Kansas teacher, along with Perryman and Da’Vontai Robinson gave a presentation to the Hays USD 489 school board Monday about the program.
“JAG-K is something that has helped me more in a month than in a whole school year,” Perryman said. “It has helped me immensely with grades. Because my freshman year, I ended with a 2.1, my sophomore year a 2.6. I am a junior now with a 3.75 GPA, so that is one and half more points. That is three whole letter grades.
“JAG has pushed [me] for bettering myself and given me opportunities that I couldn’t pass up like free ACT and WorkKeys. And it made my mom’s life easier, because she didn’t have to fork over the $49.50 we do not have.”
JAG-K’s focus is ensuring students earn their diplomas and are prepared to successfully transition to postsecondary education, military service or into the workforce following graduation. It is a nonprofit that partners with schools, and most of the cost of program this year was paid for through federal funds.
JAG-K, which has 41 students enrolled at HHS this semester, takes student who are at risk of not graduating because of at least five risk factors. These can include being from a single-parent household, living in poverty, being in foster care, being behind a grade or having low academic achievement, among other factors, Matlock said.
The program focuses on 37 competencies, which are clustered into six areas: career development, job attainment, job survival, basic competencies, leadership development and self-development, and personal skills.
The program had a 98 percent graduation rate in 2017. Of 12 HHS seniors in the program, 11 are on track to graduate with their class. One will be transferring to the Learning Center to complete the requirements for their diploma.
Perryman said he now plans to go to college and is working toward paying for his higher education through scholarships. He hopes to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and serve as an officer in the special forces in the Army. After his military service, he is considering service with the Kansas Highway Patrol.
He said he particularly found helpful the class’s trip to NCK-Tech and FHSU. He also participated in a project during which he had to budget for a month of college.
“I realized I had money left over,” he said, “so there is hope.”
Robinson is a junior who recently transferred into the district from Oklahoma. He is in foster care and is transferring into independent living. He said the program has been very helpful to him.
“Just to be able to communicate to people on a business level has made a huge impact on my life and on my soft skills,” he said. “JAG-K is a place where students can find out who they are and how to grow into mature adults.”
The students had a busy fall semester.
They participated in Trick or Treat so Others Can Eat, visiting 150 households, and recruited donors for the Battle of the Badges Blood Drive.
They have had multiple speakers, business tours and participated in the FHSU ropes course.
“All of these things that we do help students acknowledge all the good that can happen in life,” Robinson said, “and be able to make life-long friends who want to be as successful in life as you do.
“I don’t really know what I want to do for a living or how I am going to get there, but I do know I want to make a difference in someone’s life. I know I will be a somebody — a person that people can look up to.”
Robinson said he remembered days he was so tired and depressed he didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning.
“I remember when I used to sleep in a twin-sized bed with my three siblings in a house with no lights, water or heat. I remember moving back and forth to houses that never felt like home, trying to find out who I was,” he said.
“JAG-K gives people a purpose and helps with what students want to do or become in the future. It is just one of those stepping stones that sets you up for success in the end game — the program that will set me up for greatness — JAG-K.”