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JILG Featured School:
Springfield HS
Jobs for Illinois Graduates (JILG) is proud to feature Springfield High School (SHS), as its featured school of the month. Springfield High is located in the heart of the capital city, on the corners of Lewis and Washington. The total enrollment at Springfield High is approximately 1400 students and is attended by a diverse student body.
The JILG Career Specialist, Mr. Jerry Lopian, helps prepare students for the challenges they will face after graduation. While students help direct the curriculum, Mr. Lopian feels it is important for students to be aware of certain aspects of daily life that they will use extensively, such as money management, preparing for college or work, and learning about life through experience.
The JILG class of 2008 has participated in several service learning projects and continue to prepare for more. For example, in the fall, students volunteered to help with the first ever, “Harvard Park: Fall Into Art Night,” at Harvard Park elementary school. The JILG students helped elementary students and their families participate in several art stations set up around the school.
Harvard Park’s 1st “Fall Into Art Night” a Success
On November 6th, at 6:00pm, JILG students from Lanphier, Springfield High, and Southeast, joined forces to help Harvard Park Elementary school have its first “Family Art Night.” The night of art activities, painting, and food and games was the culmination of work between Elizabeth Bloemer, Harvard Park Art teacher, and Jerry Lopian, the Springfield High JILG Specialist. The students of Harvard Park were treated with a night of making crafts, coloring, painting, and fun with their parents. While this was the first such program set up at Harvard Park, the success of the Art Night will undoubtedly allow similar events in the future. The art students at Harvard Park created numerous pieces of artwork that they could show to their parents and friends during a brief tour of the school. In fact, several art pieces created showed school spirit and pride while allowing a safe and comfortable environment for family to share time together. The night certainly would not have been so successful without the help of Ms. Haptonstahl and her lean, mean, popcorn-cooking machine, and the help of all three high school JILG members. The effort that the JILG students put in demonstrates why Springfield has some of the best students in the state.
JILG students also collected stuffed animals to pass out to children at the local hospitals at Christmas time, in our “JILG Stuffed Animal Drive,” last December. Currently, students are planning a “Spring Clean” day for Springfield High and to make breakfast for teachers during Teacher Appreciation week, in May.
About the Specialist
Jerry Lopian is in his first year of teaching as a JILG Specialist and in his first year as an educator. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois-Springfield, in History, and will be beginning his Masters degree at UIS next fall.
Favorite JILG Activity
“I really enjoyed the service-learning activity that we did for Harvard Park’s Family Art Night. It was great to see the students interact with younger students and have fun. Also, the students and myself were able to build a connection with each other that has been very strong throughout the school year. The project was a first for myself, the Art teacher at Harvard Park, and for both schools, which put some pressure on all of the participants to excel.”
Favorite JILG Moment
My favorite JILG moment was when I was doing hall duty and heard some of the JILG students telling others that the class was great because we focused on ‘stuff that we need out in the real world instead of algebraic equations’.” Since this was early in the school year, it helped me to realize that I was making a difference in these kids’ lives and, hopefully, helping them maintain a positive look on life.