Jobs for Florida’s Graduates Alumni Earns Cash to Help Pursue an Internship in Brazil

Each year Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) hosts a National Training Seminar for the students and staff involved in JAG programs around the nation.  This year it was held at the Disney Coronado Resort in Florida. It was at the training seminar that Jobs for Florida’s Graduates awarded Durseny Nemoran two thousand dollars. Durseny plans to use the award to assist with paying her unsubsidized student loans. This will allow her to accept an internship in Brazil during the 2016 Olympics.

Durseny describes herself as “crazy, bubbly, cool, poetic, different and beautiful.”  She graduated from Jones High School in 2010. During her high school career she participated in Jobs for Florida’s Graduates. “This program with the assistance of my teacher, Joas Petithomme, taught me how to stay true to myself. In high school I came off as a strong and confident student with a promising future. But, the future scared me and I was indecisive about everything. Mr. Petithomme taught me how to embrace myself and make good decisions based on my needs and wants” Nemoran wrote in her essay for the contest.

“One hundred percent of Mr. Petithomme’s Jones students were accepted to college. He won several national awards for it but that pales in comparison to seeing Dursney succeed. She is a shining example of why we do what we do” said Heather Beaven, CEO of The Florida Endowment Foundation for Florida’s Graduates, which operates Jobs for Florida’s Graduates.

Dursney is currently a senior at Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University (FAMU) majoring in Public Relations.  She gives credit to the Jobs for Florida’s Graduates program for providing the assistance and guidance she needed, which gave her the courage to pursue her goals. At FAMU she has served as the President of Voices Poetry Group as well as interned at the Counseling Services and Women’s Center on campus. Nemoran, a Haitian born American, spent five months studying in Brazil where she learned to speak a third language. Because of this experience, she has set her sights on a career in international communications.

“All in all, I am more than blessed and very thankful for this program and my former teacher Mr. Petithomme. Without his class I would have continued doubting my future. Now I know for sure I can turn my dreams into reality” Nemoran said.

 Heather Beaven, whose organization serves about 4,000 students each academic year throughout Florida, said she has noticed a change in the way elected officials view education. “People really understand that education is economic development and that post- graduation success is equally important as academic success. Stories like this one simple provide testimony” Beaven said.