First Lady Parson meets with
local JAG students
March 15, 2022
First Lady Teresa Parson sat down with Cassville High School JAG students and discussed how the program has made a positive impact on students lives during a recent visit to Barry County.
Adriana Keeton
Missouri's First Lady, Teresa Parson, traveled to Barry County to visit Area JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates) students at local schools on Tuesday (Mar. 7). JAG Missouri Regional Manager Shantra Tucker and Jill Fansler, Chief of Staff to the First Lady joined the First Lady.
The program, co-chaired in Missouri by the First Lady and Governor Mike Parson, has grown substantially over the years from six programs serving 225 students in 2014 to eighty programs with more than 3,200 students today. Cassville R-IV Schools have been in the program for four years and currently have sixty students participating.
The First Lady shared her and Governor Parson’s life stories and spoke with students about the importance of taking advantage of opportunities, and the necessity of a positive attitude for success.
"You have to find what you enjoy in life," said the First Lady, "that is why those doors of opportunity are so important when they come. You have to walk through them."
"JAG changes lives," Shantra Tucker pointed out during the meeting. JAG has seen nearly a 96% graduation rate from its involved schools versus an 85% graduation rate nationally among high school students.
JAG, founded in 1979, helps students with academic potential but are impacted by significant personal barriers to focus on building a career path based on individual technical skill sets, trade, and college-degree-level job opportunities.
Missouri's First Lady, Teresa Parson, traveled to Barry County to visit Area JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates) students at local schools on Tuesday (Mar. 7). JAG Missouri Regional Manager Shantra Tucker and Jill Fansler, Chief of Staff to the First Lady joined the First Lady.
The program, co-chaired in Missouri by the First Lady and Governor Mike Parson, has grown substantially over the years from six programs serving 225 students in 2014 to eighty programs with more than 3,200 students today. Cassville R-IV Schools have been in the program for four years and currently have sixty students participating.
The First Lady shared her and Governor Parson’s life stories and spoke with students about the importance of taking advantage of opportunities, and the necessity of a positive attitude for success.
"You have to find what you enjoy in life," said the First Lady, "that is why those doors of opportunity are so important when they come. You have to walk through them."
"JAG changes lives," Shantra Tucker pointed out during the meeting. JAG has seen nearly a 96% graduation rate from its involved schools versus an 85% graduation rate nationally among high school students.
JAG, founded in 1979, helps students with academic potential but are impacted by significant personal barriers to focus on building a career path based on individual technical skill sets, trade, and college-degree-level job opportunities.