Hot Springs JMG class prepares for conference

HOT SPRINGS – The Jobs for Montana Graduates is an elective class newly available at Hot Springs High School. The class aims to assist students in developing such skills as team work, job development and real world preparation.

The first ever Hot Springs High School JMG class has already achieved much in less than a year. They competed at the Fall Leadership Conference in Helena and placed second out of 48 schools for their logo design. 

Next the JMG class will be traveling to Billings at the end of April for the Career Development Conference where they will compete once again. School Counselor and JMG Specialist Sher Loberg described the conference events.

“We will compete as a group and individually,” Loberg said. “As a group we will compete in a chapter manual event, webpage design and civic activity.”

The chapter manual is a book the class puts together that features all the activities they have completed so far this year. According to Loberg, the book is meant to exemplify the success and commitment of the group to the JMG program by means of leadership and social activities.

This might include the civic activity the class members are required to do. The activity can be anything in the charitable realm.

The big civil activity the Hot Springs JMG class completed was the Graduation Matters Event. The JMG members as well as some National Honor Society students made an effort to educate the younger kids on the importance of graduating. The event was a success with over 200 students taking the pledge to graduate.

Loberg hopes to make the Graduation Matters assembly a Hot Springs school tradition.

“I intend to keep it going,” Loberg said. “We took pictures of each class and we will have them printed and framed.”

The JMG class will compete as a group but they will also compete as individuals.   

“Individually, the students will compete in employment preparation career notebook, public speaking, telephone techniques, critical thinking and words in the work place,” Loberg said.

The career notebook will include a student-made resume and cover letter. The competition for the career notebook will be set up as a simulated job opening. Only the students with the best resumes and cover letters will move on to the interview stage. 

The best interviewee will be the winner and the recipient of the simulated job offer. The purpose is to prepare the JMG students for the real world of job-searching. 

As of now, the class is still in the preparation stages for the conference but Loberg said she and the girls are very excited for its arrival. 

“We are deciding who is going to do what,” Loberg said. “We also just started putting together our webpage and manual.”

Overnight conferences and competition can be fun, but the main purpose of JMG is always at the forefront. The program stresses the importance of graduation in the face of the real world.

According to the JMG newsletter, high school graduation determines how well the next 50 years of one’s life will go. The lessons learned in JMG are therefore invaluable. 

“The skills they are learning are very important,” Loberg said. “I think everybody should take this class. It has been a treat to take this journey with these kids.”