Leadership is a skill so many can use and JHS’ Jobs for America’s Graduates program provides that skill and so much more! The Jefferson JAG officers had the opportunity to travel to Rapid City this past October 8th-10th to be a part of this year’s South Dakota JAG Emerging Leaders Summit (ELS). While there they got the chance to hear from SD JAG director Beth Schneider and even speak to her themselves!
The Summit was full of activities and meetings where each officer listened to other officers from all over South Dakota speak about their experiences and projects in JAG. The Jefferson Jobs for America’s Graduates program was able to speak to other schools from across the state with smaller and larger programs then their own about different strategies to use in order to bring together their schools and projects that allow their peers to discover more about career and leadership opportunities that align with their interests, sharing different meeting topics, group activities, and ways to spark leadership and networking among their peers. All the officers that attend the ELS were given presentations and group activities to participate in during the Summit, one of which was conducted during the speech of Shelby Williams, the National Secretary for South Dakota JAG, about her time in JAG as a student and even having the all the officers in the room part take in an experiment. This group activity was used to get to know one another.
The Summit was an experience that presented each student with the opportunity to network with others, especially during the closing etiquette dinner. Five officers–all from different schools–got to sit with a Director, National Officer, or President that was a part of the organizing of the event or the SD JAG program itself. This section was used to help the officers learn about business dinners and the topics spoken about during professional dinners or events held by higher ranking officials in the employment industry.
