JAG-K held its annual Initiation and Installation Ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 18 in the Hays High School Lecture Hall.

The ceremony was held to recognize the students who are a part of the JAG-K group and to swear in the elected officers. The new president is senior Emileah Bunting, who is in her third year of JAG-K. The other officers include the following:

VP of Career Development – sophomore Kaleb Jerome

VP of Civic Awareness – junior Jacob Mead

VP of Community Service – senior Brooke Leiker

VP of Leadership Development – freshman Adaighzion Prediger

VP of Social Awareness – junior Dominic Castaneira

VP of Social Media – senior Leo Hernandez

Secretary – junior Nikole Orender

JAG-K stands for Jobs for America’s Graduates – Kansas. The goal of JAG-K is to help students succeed, including helping them to graduate and to have positive outcomes after high school, whether that involves going to technical schools or colleges or entering the workforce.

JAG-K helps students by teaching employability skills, by providing networking opportunities and by helping students overcome obstacles they face.

The program has been in existence nationally for 40 years and boasts a 95 percent graduation rate.

“I have been the Career Specialist for JAG-K at Hays High for three years,” teacher Bryan Zollinger said. “I believe it was here for three to four years prior to that. When I took over the program, there were about 30 students in JAG, and we now have 60, which is our cap, and had another 40 to 50 who wanted to join.”