By Savannah Edgar 

Jobs for Alabama’s Graduates (JAG) held its State Career Development Conference in Birmingham on Feb. 25 at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. Chapters from across Alabama, including 33 students from the Highland Home School, participated in workshops, leadership activities, competitions and award ceremonies. The conference was the largest JAG conference in the nation, hosting over 1,450 students. 

The Highland Home team consisted of senior Anna Kate Foster, juniors Chris Thomson and Madalyn Perdue and sophomore Lori Anna Majors. The team competed in the JAG Career Association (JAGCA) Knowledge Bowl event, which tested student’s knowledge of job readiness skills, parliamentary procedure familiarity and life skills acquisition. 

Highland Home’s Knowledge Bowl team worked through their rounds. The final round matched them against last year’s national champion team, Morgan County Career and Technical Center. 

Highland Home took back the state championship title beating Morgan 38-11.

Second-time knowledge bowl competitor, LoriAnna Majors, described the camaraderie she feels as part of the JAG team.

“Whenever I go compete, I feel like I’m a part of something big. It feels like a big family,” Majors said. “JAG has helped me to see that I have more potential than I realize I do. I shouldn’t expect less than what I’m capable of. I had no expectations going in, but I’m very excited that we won. I’m even more excited about nationals. I’ve never been to Indiana and JAG gives me these opportunities to travel and spend time with my friends and compete is really great.” 

The students will be attending the National Career Development Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, from April 23-27. They will be joined by Kaliyah Frost, who qualifies to receive an award for her incredible work in the Outstanding Chapter event and Paige Daniel, who will be the newest member of the Knowledge Bowl team next year. 

Additionally, Savannah Edgar will be attending the conference as a state ambassador, running as a candidate for a national officer position. Also traveling to Indianapolis for nationals will be seniors Ashlan Thomson, Jordan Boyd, Tyler Holcombe and Clay Hackleman, who participated in the Lifting Our Voices for Equity (L.O.V.E.) project. The L.O.V.E project encourages youth to identify challenges in their community and work collectively to make change. 

Each team gave a presentation that answered the questions, “Where do inequities show up in your community?” and “What can you do to create positive.” Students selected clothes and hygiene closets, as well as a clothes cleaning station as the featured project this year. Community service officer, Ashlan Thomson, has been working with the closet for several years. 

The team realized there is a hidden need in the community that most people don’t talk about. Almost always the closet can provide basic hygiene needs and necessary apparel to return confidence to those in need. 

The clothes cleaning operation features a washer and dryer where students can bring their clothes to wash them when they do not have the ability to do so at home. Additionally, use of the service is 100% confidential for the students in need, so they won’t have to worry about prying eyes. 

The team’s efforts on the project earned them a third-place title at the conference. 

“Competition brings me confidence that I didn’t know I had before. It makes me very happy and proud of myself,” Thomson said. “I am very excited for Nationals this year. If it’s anything like last year, we’ll have an amazing time.  I hope it continues to grow bigger and better like it has over the years, and I’m excited to meet new people. JAG has helped me grow as a person inside and outside of school. From jobs, taxes, credit, and my confidence, it has helped me with how I speak and present myself to others.”