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JILG Featured School:
Springfield-Lanphier HS
Lanphier High School is located in the north end of Springfield in Central Illinois. The school has approximately 1350 students, predominantly middle class and low income working class families. The minority population is around 30%. North Enders takes a great deal of pride in their school, with many of the students having parents and family who graduated from LHS. They chose to stay in this part of Springfield. Lanphier has a rich tradition of basketball success, their most recent success being Andre Iguodala of the NBA who led the school to a second place finish in the state tournament. Lanphier also has won state city track titles and has finished third in the state the past 2 years.
The JILG program served 40 students the past year and has another full roster for the upcoming year. The class of 2008 took a great deal of pride in JilG and strived to make the program a success. Their efforts can be seen in many areas as they were top award winner at the Career Development Conference in Effingham, IL with 6 and were among the state leaders in Community Service hours having averaged over 44 hours per student, well above the state average and far exceeding the 10 hours required by JILG.
The students were very busy last year having taken field trips to St. Louis for Career Day, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, and Junior Achievement Life Skills program, Leadership Development Conference, Career Development Conference and Scott Air Force Base.
The students took a great deal of pride in their service activities which included: Adopt A Street, St. Johns Breadline, Boys’ Club Art Fair, Harvard Park Art Fair, Carillon Pumpkin Carving, Jaycees Haunted House, several elementary schools, Friends In Deed, Mini O Beirne Crisis Nursery, Salvation Army, District 186 Book Drive, Springfield First Night, Humane Society, Junior Achievement, Sparc, Central Illinois Food Bank, Grant Middle School Mentoring, and Travis Thiele Leukemia Fund. Marquetta Dickerson, Association Vice President was named the Springfield State Journal Register Top Teen for her over 100 hours of service to the community. The program gave away over $1500.00 to a variety of charities.
The students also enjoyed their social activities together which included birthday parties, a huge Christmas Party, several basketball games after school and on weekends, a Bowling Day during Christmas break and several lunches out.
The favorite activities this year included the Cardinal Career Day when a lot of students and I really bonded. Most of the students had never attended a professional baseball game before. They had a great time. Another highlight was the bowling fundraiser for 3 year-old Leukemia victim Travis Thiele, cousin of JilG student Desi Peterson. The students and families showed up in force and we were able to raise a lot of money quickly to aid the family. To see the appreciation from the family was overwhelming.
The Best JILG moment is hard to pin down. I would say it was 2-3 weeks into last year and I just really realized that the program was working the way it was intended. I had students coming in for help, students helping each other. They had developed a real sense of community and belonging which many had been missing. I felt like I was making a real difference for the first time in a long time.
There is a strong focus on team work and building personal relationships in the LHS JILG program. We like to encourage a family-like atmosphere where students are willing to help others who are in need. Many students miss having someone to trust and turn to when they need help.
A large portion of the class is well on their way to success with about 75% attending college and others working at full time jobs. The class of 2006-2007 also met the JAG 5 for 5 goals.
About the Specialist
Dave Roberts has been teaching almost 20 years, having been a social studies teacher before taking over the job as Career Specialist. He also has coached football and soccer at LHS in addition to a variety of youth sports including basketball, baseball, soccer, and football. He will be in his third year as specialist in 2008-2009. He is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and Blackburn College. He has a Masters Degree in Educational Administration from the University of Illinois at Springfield.