Glenwood iJAG Program Is 'Jumping Off Point' To Careers

Glenwood Community High School will continue to offer its students a jumpstart to a career after graduation.

The school’s Iowa Jobs After Graduation (iJAG) program teaching students the soft skills of career hireability while matching their career aspirations after high school with community business, industry and mentor partners will be back this Fall.

At last Monday’s meeting, the Glenwood Board of Education extended the district’s memorandum of understanding to continue the iJAG program through the 2023-2024 school year.

The program, which is in its second year under instructor Shawn Shea, prioritizes junior and seniors and previously enrolled students, although underclassmen may take the course if space allows. It is intended to target students for a handful of career technical fields. The district partners with iJAG to provide an instructor to teach a curriculum that would align student interest with a career path while connecting those students to professionals in those fields.

The course’s motto is “That kid, no matter what,” according to Lorraine Duitsman, interim high school principal.

“At Glenwood High School, we believe in helping all students find success and to be future ready, and the IJAG program supports that mission,” Duitsman said by email.  “In his first year at Glenwood High School, Mr. (Shawn) Shea has helped students to explore their interests and to develop job skills, supporting student learning through research, hands-on activities, and career interest field trips.  I am grateful for Mr. Shea’s contributions to our school and to student learning and look forward to the future growth of the program.”
Glenwood Superintendent Dr. Devin Embray calls the program a jumping off point for students to connect with internships and apprenticeships locally.

“It’s got more of a technical aspect, so there’s a career tech edge to it with students getting hands on engagement with the curriculum,” he said. “There’s resume building, practice interviewing and a lot of the soft skills needed for career work.”

Many of the students are identified by counselors who think the student and course would be a good fit. Many of the students enrolled request the course. Enrollments is capped at 60 for the school year.

As part of its agreement with iJAG, the district will pay iJAG $25,000 for the program and curriculum for the upcoming school year.

iJAG, a non-profit supported by corporate and foundation contributions, public grants and schools, was started in 1999. The organization creates business, industry and education partnerships committed to achieving the goal of keeping students in school while gaining long-term employment in a host of careers. They serve more than 7,200 middle and high school students across the state.

The classroom work is hands-on in work-based learning experiences and in the community, business have been supportive of the students and the program. Embray cited a recent example of a local business sending a student that worked part time in the shop to mechanic school as both of a success story and a glimpse of the course’s potential.

The response overall has been very favorable, Embray said.

“I’ve been in the class, and I can see the kids are excited and motivated and they’re engaged. I think they appreciate the attention put on those types of things to help them attain a job or work some place that can be a career in technology or not. It’s been very well received,” he said.

The iJAG program is separate from and not to be confused with the district’s planned career and technical innovation center or East Mills School District’s Southwest Iowa Technical Career Hub (SWITCH) program, both tentatively slated to open to high school students in the Fall of 2024.

But Embray does see connections between the programs.

“I could see our kids in iJAG possibly being interested in the SWITCH program over at East Mills with their industrial maintenance program or their construction trade program. We had several students show interest in that when that program came up.

“I see similarities with students that are in iJAG that want to be involved, whether here or in SWITCH or in the innovation center, with what we’re doing with digital mass communications and cyber security or robotics.”