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JILG Featured School:
Nashville Community HS
Jobs for Illinois Graduates (JILG) is proud to feature Nashville Community High School, home of the Hornets! Nashville is located in Southern Illinois approximately one hour southeast of St. Louis, an hour north of Carbondale, and 2 hours south of Springfield. NCHS serves approximately 500 students and has a long-standing tradition of academic and athletic honors. This is really a sports town but the academic programs receive the praise they deserve as well.
NCHS has many feeder schools and communities. In Nashville alone, students come from Nashville Middle School, Trinity St. John’s Lutheran School, and St. Ann’s Catholic School. Students also come from the towns or villages of Oakdale, Dubois, Radom, Ashley, Hoyleton, and New Minden.
The JILG Program served 38 students during the 2006-2007 school year and has so far registered 41 for the upcoming 2007-2008 school year. The JILG program at NCHS spends a great deal of time working on community service projects. They work constantly with different community organizations, such as the Lion’s Club and the Optimists. This has helped to market the program and the word has quickly spread that the Nashville JILG Career Association works well as a team, and JILG students are an effective bunch to work with.
Highlights of this years activities include having several guest speakers and participation in field trips to local businesses and colleges. One activity that they have been involved with for the past two years involves job interviews. The students must complete a total of 3 interviews. The first is a mock interview in front of their peers; the second is a mock interview with the JILG specialist. The final interview is done with a business member in the community. Students must get themselves to the interview at the appropriate time, bring the appropriate materials (resume, cover letter, application), and be dressed in an appropriate manner. This is very beneficial to the students, and it makes the unit much more realistic when they have to go on the third interview. Local employers are very excited about it and are very accommodating to our schedules at NCHS.
Service Learning Projects Performed This Year
Some of the activities we are responsible for this year include:
- Assisting K-1 students and teachers with Thanksgiving art projects.
- Serving meals and parking cars at the Community Center fundraiser.
- Providing stuffed stockings for children in the Washington County Headstart Program.
- Working in various areas at the Easter Eggstravaganza
- Collecting food for the BCMW in the annual Student Council Scavenger Hunt
- Assisting athletes at the Special Olympics in Mt. Vernon
- Hosting the concession stand at Washington County’s annual Relay for Life
Below is information about a project that is a favorite of the students – the blanket making project for patients at Shriners Hospital.
JILG students have been working individually to decorate and stuff stockings as well as to create fleece blankets to donate to the patients at Shriners Hospital in St. Louis, MO. Each student was given the opportunity to choose the pattern and color which with they wished to work. Students spent three days in class working on the blankets and a day on the stockings. After they were finished, the class delivered the blankets and stockings to the hospital in person.
Before beginning the tour, students met with several volunteers who were caroling in the hospital with Santa Claus. JILG students sang a few Christmas Carols with the Shriners and Santa. On the tour of Shriners Hospital, students learned about the daily operations of the hospital, as well as the various treatments and services offered. Students were not allowed to visit patients; however, the hospital was full of patients during the tour. Students were able to witness first hand who would be benefiting from their donations.
Shriners Hospital in St. Louis is one of 22 hospitals of its kind in the country. They specialize in comprehensive orthopedic reconstructive surgery, metabolic bone disease, neuromuscular problems and microsurgery. They treat many patients who may have scoliosis, hand and hip disorders, limb deficiencies, and leg discrepancies. Each hospital serves patients from all over the world at no cost to the patient or family. If you would like to know more about this organization or the hospitals, go to http://www.shrinershq.org.
Submitted by Allyssa Deering, Chapter Reporter
About the Specialists
Michele Goostree has been at Nashville Community High School for a total of 11 years. She has previously taught Title I-Study Skills, and has been teaching JILG for the past two years. Michele attended Kaskaskia Junior College and transferred to SIU-C where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in History Education. She is currently working on her Master’s Degree in History. In addition to teaching at NCHS, she has been teaching college-level English and Language Arts part-time at Kaskaskia College for the past 4 years. Recently, Ms. Goostree was named Kaskaskia College Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year.
“The best moment in JILG is when students “get it”. I love watching their eyes open to the realities they will soon be faced with. They suddenly become appreciative of their lives, and especially their parents or guardians who have been caring for them.”