Sesser Valier HS
Jobs for Illinois Graduates (JILG) is proud to feature Sesser-Valier High School, home of the Red Devils! Sesser is located in Southern Illinois approximately one and one half hours southeast of St. Louis, just on the west side of Rend Lake. S-V HS serves approximately 250 students and has a long-standing tradition of academic and athletic honors.
The JILG program served 34 students during the 2007-2008 school year with 43 students currently registered to begin the 2008-2009 year. Although S-V JILG Career Association focuses much of their energy on service learning projects, the Career Association plans and implements several other events each year that focus on the CA Goals such as Leadership Development, Career Preparation, Citizenship, and Social Awareness.
Sesser-Valier HS JILG Class
Sesser-Valier’s service learning projects for the past several years have included assisting at the Annual Special Olympics, S-V’s PTO Carnival, Santa’s Cottage, Family Reading Night, Dr. Seuss Reading Nights, the S-V JILG Red Cross Spring Blood Drive, and Campus Clean-Up projects.
Guest speakers are also featured during the S-V JILG year. Various tech school, college, and university representatives are brought in along with multiple career specific speakers. Along with career and educational focused speakers, Career Specialist, Mike Sample, invites life lesson speakers such as financial consultants to speak on credit cards and financial planning, certified public accountants to assist in student tax preparation, auto sales managers for car buying lessons and even insurance agents to speak on rental insurance for future dorm residents. Mr. Sample feels that JILG should prepare his participants for every aspect of their future lives.
JILG has become a central part of life at S-V High. JILG Awareness Week in Schools (JAWS) is looked forward to by all students as a center piece of the school’s winter activities. The week long events almost equal S-V’s fall high school homecoming activities in student participation and enthusiasm. When asked why she thought JILG had become so well received by students and the community alike, recent S-V JILG graduate Chelsea Benedict stated, “Student wise, it’s a fun and exciting class, and we learn a ton of things that we know will make life easier after graduation. Community wise, we’re involved in and make a positive impact in everything that goes on in our small community, and we love it.”
About the Specialist
JILG Specialist Mike Sample
Mike Sample has been with Sesser-Valier since 2001. He began his S-V career in the JILG classroom and has been there since. Mike brings a wide variety of life experiences to his classroom having had multiple previous jobs including manual labor positions, middle and upper management positions and even being a company owner and local employer.
“My life history has allowed me to relate to most students on a very personal level. I get excited when my students realize that nothing is outside their grasp if they are just willing to work at it. It is very gratifying to assist a student in climbing their personal ladder to reach their ambitions.”
