Eastern Hancock senior Lillian Scott placed first in the Employability Skills competition at the JAG Indiana Region 5 Career Development Conference and now heads to state in March.
CHARLOTTESVILLE — The class at Eastern Hancock High School (EHHS) is designed to help students understand more about the work world and be better prepared to apply for jobs when they graduate from high school or college.
Greg Judy, who teaches a workforce pipeline program class, Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG), works with students year round teaching students employable skills. The program helps students learn in-demand job skills while providing a bridge to post-secondary education and career advancement opportunities.
One of his students, Lillian Scott, a senior at EHHS, recently placed first in an Employable Skills competition at the JAG Indiana Region 5 Career Development Conference. The competition involves writing a resume and cover letter and participating in a mock job interview. With the win, Lillian now advances to the state competition, which will be held at Ivy Tech in Indianapolis on March 15.
“I thought I had done pretty good, but at the end of my interview, they didn’t really give me any advice so I was wondering what they thought,” Lillian said.
She quickly found out when it was announced she came in first place.
“I wasn’t too surprised, but I honestly thought I might come in at something like third place, so I was a little surprised when they said I won,” she said.
Lillian says she signed up for the JAG class at EHHS because she thought it might help her figure out what career she would like to go.
“Everyone I know seemed to know what they were going to go into and I didn’t,” Lillian said. “I was kind of lost.”
The class has helped her determine what she likes doing and now she plans to go to Ivy Tech after graduation and study mortuary science.
“I took the class and I figured out what I really wanted to do,” Lillian said. “I learned so much from the class, and I honestly advise other students to take it too.”
Lillian is currently doing an internship with Stillinger Family Funeral Home and said she will more than likely become a mortician and maybe even run to become the county coroner some day.
“It’s been really good being there since they’re letting me do a lot of work,” Lillian said. “I’m learning a lot.”
Judy noted Lillian is one of those kinds of students who may not be the most vocal but leads by example.
“She’s quiet, but she’s very sharp,” Judy said.
Lillian was elected president of an after school club hosted by Judy called “Career Association.” That’s where she’s been able to show off her true leadership skills.
“She’s a good speaker, a good communicator and she’s very thoughtful,” Judy said. “She delegates and refers to others and is one of those quiet types of leaders our community needs.”
As for the JAG contest, Judy noted there are 12 workforce regions in Indiana and EHHS is located in Region 5, which includes the donate counties around Marion County with each Region holding their own competition where the winners in each category move onto state.
“There are 10 to 12 different specific competitions at each region and I had a student compete in almost every category,” Judy said. “Lillian was the only one who got first in her competition.”
Judy noted what he does in the JAG class is help students fill in the blanks that other classes can’t do such as to prepare students for the future by conducting career assessments, career explorations, teaching interview skill, public speaking and more.
“We talk about team building and mostly about what skills they will need to be successful after high school,” Judy said.
While the class is ideally suited for juniors and seniors, this year Judy has sophomores and freshman in the class and noted students are focusing in on career opportunities a lot sooner than they used to.
Lillian noted the class helped her learn how to have real conversations with others.
“I used to kind of be one of those people who struggled keeping conversations going,” she said. “That’s one thing I really did learn in JAG was working on my communication skills.”
