My trip to Washington, D.C.
By Michael Aguire, Member
Prudential Leads Team

I had the honor to be a part of the Prudential Leads Team to represent JAG Arizona at the JAG National Student Leadership Conference which has been held in D.C. every year. I was encouraged by my JAG coordinator, Mr. Kartler, to interview for the position on the JAG Leads Team and was one of eight candidates to be selected to be on the team. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and I learned much about myself and what it takes to be a leader as well as better individual.

JAG Annual National Leadership Awards Luncheon Washington Hyatt on Capitol Hill
Theme:  “Success with Student Employment against the Odds”

A group representing Jobs for America’s Graduates-South Dakota at the Wagner Community Schools delivered one of the keynote presentations, “Student Success and the JAG Model,” at the National Indian Impacted Schools Association (NIISA) Annual Meeting and Conference in Las Vegas, NV, December 5, 2011.   

Carolina Aguilar, an iJAG Early College Success program student at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), was chosen as  1 of the 100 students selected to attend a nationwide summit, OpportunityNation (www.opportunitynation.org) in New York City on November 3^rd -5^th, 2011, with DMACC President, Rob Denson.  Carolina was nominated by her iJAG Career Coach, Don Southammavong, at DMACC to attend the summit.   

JBSG thanked Worcester Mayor Joseph C. O'Brien for dedicating his time and energy to meeting with JBSG student leaders and Specialists and listened to JBBSG opinions. Mayor O'Brien gave JBSG a Proclamation declaring the month "Bay State Career Association Month" recognizing JBSG's long history and dedication to the students in the city of Worcester.

Clinton, NC – Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) and AgCareers.com partnered to excite talented youth about careers in the agribusiness industry.  This relationship has lead to sponsorship of the third annual ‘What Does Agriculture Mean to Me’ essay contest.Sarah Maccaro’s winning essay rewards her with a trip to attend the JAG Student Leadership Academy which was held in Washington D.C., November 18-20.

BATON ROUGE – Today, Governor Bobby Jindal joined BESE members Glenny Lee Buquet and Jim Garvey to announce that Louisiana’s high school graduation rate has increased by 3.7 points to 70.9 percent and that the cohort dropout rate has decreased from 17 percent to 14.6 percent between 2009-10 and 2010-11.

The jump in Louisiana’s graduation rate triples the cumulative gain for the prior three years combined. The cohort dropout rate also represents a four point decrease since 2007-08, when it was 18.6 percent.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - On Tuesday, hundreds of Iowans, including Governor Branstad, marched in cities across Iowa for the iJAG program. They want state lawmakers to restore $1 million in state funding cuts.

iJAG is designed to give at-risk students time in school to focus on the issues that are holding them back from success. iJAG or Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates also helps give students job skills, career placement, college help, and job and life skills. But those who benefit from the state funded program say they can’t accomplish those goals with less funding.

Hosted by Louisiana - JAG and the Louisiana Department of Education - New Orleans, LA • July 13-15, 2011