MITCHELL — It may be spring break at Dakota Wesleyan University, but campus was alive Tuesday with the sights and sounds of students and teachers from around South Dakota.
That’s because the annual South Dakota Jobs for America’s Graduates Career Development Conference was taking place in classrooms and meeting spaces at the school, again drawing hundreds of students and advisers associated with the program. In fact, the program and participation in it has never been higher.
“We have over 560,” Beth Schneider, state director for South Dakota JAG, told the Mitchell Republic in reference to the number of students taking part in the organization across the state this year. “We focus on increasing schools, but also increasing the number of students in the programs, too.”
Schneider clarified that the actual number was 566 participating students across 18 school districts in South Dakota. That’s a significant increase from a year ago, when she reported about 400 students active in the organization, which helps high school students develop skills for career success and graduation. South Dakota JAG is a state-based program that's supervised by the South Dakota Department of Education.
In addition, the organization is boasting three new school district additions for the 2024-25 school year – Vermillion, Brookings and Wilmot.
There were also a record number of high schoolers taking part in the JAG conference, which was being held on the DWU campus for the fourth time. With 230 students in attendance, the School of Business and Innovation was as lively as any day when college classes are in session. As part of the day, JAG students participate in various activities, including competitions in employability skills, career exploration and financial literacy.
Upward path
Among those students was Mariska Parkhurst, a junior from Todd County High School in Mission. Parkhurst has been involved in the program since her freshman year, and was chosen to be a part of it by her JAG specialist, a school-based adviser who essentially acts as a dedicated career advisor and support system for participants.
The specialist spotted her social anxiety and thought the program could be useful in helping her overcome it. She was hesitant at first, but she soon found goals within the program along with a strong desire to meet them.
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“From my eighth grade year, from everything that happened during quarantine I have really bad social anxiety, and I would miss out on school because of it. So I just didn’t want to go,” Parkhurst said. “(But since joining JAG my attendance) has been good now because of my sophomore year, because that’s when I realized I wanted to run for president of JAG. I had to bring up my attendance so it would show them that I could do this.”
Parkhurst now serves as president of her JAG chapter and was taking part in her second JAG conference Tuesday, serving in a leadership role that not long ago would have seemed unattainable. Before JAG, Parkhurst said she didn’t really enjoy talking to people.
That has changed over the years, she said.
“Now I like communicating with people and being able to help people who have anxiety. And I give a lot of advice to our new JAG members,” Parkhurst said.
Serving as president of her local JAG chapter is just one way she is lending a hand to the organization’s cause. She successfully encouraged a friend of hers to join JAG by explaining how it helped her communication and job-seeking skills. Those skills helped her land a part-time job in Mission.
She knew the program could help her friend, just as it helped her with interview and job application skills.
“I got my friend into JAG by telling her how it helped me and how it has helped me get my job and helped me communicate with my teachers, because she was also having a hard time with that,” Parkhurst said. “I told her that JAG can help you find what's good for you, and how to dress professionally and how to talk to people professionally. How to make them know that you’re good for this position.”
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April Hollingsworth has been a familiar face around JAG and its activities for several years now. A senior at Wagner High School, she has been involved with JAG for six years, having started with the program in middle school. As a senior who has experienced all four state conferences, she has grown into a leadership role among her fellow participants.
As she takes in her last conference as a high school student, she is savoring an environment that has benefitted her in many ways as well as reflecting on her journey through the program.
“I like seeing all of the new and recurring faces. My last three years, I’ve either been interviewed or competing. So this year, now that I can kind of just oversee what other kids are doing, it’s nice to see what everybody is doing,” Hollingsworth said. “I just like seeing people thrive and pursue what they want to do, and how happy they are after they come back from their competitive event. I love that aspect of it.”
Hollingsworth had ambitions of running for national JAG office, but unforeseen circumstances meant that was not to be. Still, she has participated in several national-level events, and will again this year with a trip to the National Career Development Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. That event will take place April 24 to 26.
But she’s also heading to Black Hills State University in the fall, where she will major in business or biology. A future as a pharmacist or business manager could be in her future, something she said she could not have foreseen when she first joined JAG.
The leadership skills she gained paved a path for her college dreams and helped her overcome communication issues and even suicidal thoughts, she said.
“That’s something JAG has taught me. When I started, I had no plans for my life. I mean, not a lot of middle schoolers do, but I didn’t really want to have a plan,” Hollingsworth said. “I was pretty suicidal. I didn’t want to live. But JAG has helped me build my future because now I want to do stuff and now I want to live a life that middle school me didn’t want to live.”
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Continued support
Schneider oversees hundreds of students as part of the program, and she said Parkhurst and Hollingsworth are great examples of students taking the lessons of JAG and applying them to their real-world life. Parkhurst now has a job and continues to work on her social anxiety, and Hollingsworth is currently serving as secretary for South Dakota JAG, and then it will be off to college.
The state JAG program continues to grow thanks in part to the success of students like Parkhurst and Hollingsworth. She also credits specialists who work on-site at participating schools and program managers who work in an intermediary role between Schneider and the school programs.
The organization has grown considerably since its inception with a pilot program during the 2009-10 school year, and so has the size of “JAG family.” Many of those who have worked through the program have gone on to achieve life goals and successes, but they never fully move on from the program.
Schneider said she and program officials will continue to provide that all-important support to their extended family.
“JAG has some supports. Even if it's not your specialist because they’re busy, then they know they can reach out to me. They can reach out to their program manager. Maybe there's a program that they can connect with because they’ve met that specialist at some of the statewide events,” Schneider said. “So it’s really a big network of support. The group stays with you, even if they’re not right next to you.”
More information on South Dakota JAG can be found at doe.sd.gov/jag-sd.
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