Alicia Dougherty
Six iJag students from the ACA participated in an annual Career Development Conference held in Des Moines. iJag is a comprehensive school-to-career program for high school students who are faced with multiple barriers to success. The Career Conference is an annual event where iJAG students compete with over two hundred of their peers in various competitive events, participate in interactive workshops, and attended the awards luncheon.
These six ACA students, along with students from 28 other high schools, competed in Public Speaking, Marketing, Employability Skills, Signature/Banner competition, Critical Thinking and Decision Making.
The students also engaged in an activity called the “Junk Game.” Students were formed into groups and created a product out of household “junk”, then marketed this product to a panel of judges.
The students, along with their John Deere mentor, worked for three weeks in preparing for the
conference. All of this hard work paid off, enabling Daryan Cheely to make it to the second round in her speech, and Alyshia Shanklin and Abby Lewis took second place in the Junk Game.
An additional event was added this year requesting a student, who would not be attending the
conference, submit a drawing that that would compete for this year’s brochure design. Alicia Dougherty took first place, winning her a gold medal in this category.
“We are all very proud of these young women for their courage in participating in this conference and for the hard work in competing in their events,” said Deb Hunt, iJag coordinator.
Pictured from left: Alyshia Shanklin, silver medal; Kaitlyn Clark; Abby Lewis, silver medal; Megan Zesiger; Mariana Olmedo; and Kari Carter- Adamson, John Deere mentor. Not pictured, Daryan Cheely.
