Perry County JTG wins top national honor

The Jobs for Tennessee Graduates Program (JTG) has garnered national success for the fourth consecutive year, again being awarded the highest accolade—the Five of Five Award—signifying JTG students exceeded the goals of the program and earned top marks for graduation and success rates.

In this area, Perry County and Richland High Schools made the national Five of Five Awards in addition to eighteen other Tennessee schools. The area was also one of three in the top state organizations to receive the highest graduation from Senior Programs in the nation at 97.12%. The other two states were Virginia and New Mexico.

JTG is designed to help youth that are considered “at risk” of not graduating or dropping out. The program focuses on keeping the youth in school, ultimately graduating and assisting them with attaining full-time employment or post secondary education.

“This program changes the lives of our students and fits in line with the mission of the Tennessee Diploma Project which is graduating every student, preparing them for college and getting them ready for a career,” Education Commissioner Timothy Webb said.

This year, Perry County’s Melanie Gladden with the South Central Tennessee Workforce Alliance will be the Program Manager for ten additional schools, which now brings the total to thirteen JTG High Schools in the South Central Tennessee area.

Melanie will provide oversight, guidance and instruction to all of the JTG Instructors in the eight county area. The high schools are Perry County, Columbia Central, Mt. Pleasant, Hickman County, East Hickman, Giles County, Richland, Lawrence County, Lewis County, Summertown, Loretto, Marshall County, Wayne County, Clifton, and Collinwood.

For more information about the Jobs for Tennessee Graduates Program, contact Melanie at 931-589-5012.