October 2008
A Tribute to Leonel Ibarra, Class of 2008,
Juarez JILG Student
By Monserrrath Espinoza
The first time I ever heard about the Jobs
for Illinois Graduates Program was through
an invitation to a pizza party. Seniors were
supposed to invite a junior and my close
friend, Leonel Ibarra, handed me a field
trip slip and told me to come. I had already
known our Career Specialist, Ms. Puentes,
but I didn’t really know much about JILG.
Leo was my inspira-
tion because he
not only motivated
people, but he in-
spired people to do
whatever they were
passionate about,
even if it was some-
thing that most
people wouldn’t
agree with. He
wanted to pursue
cosmetology to
become a barber and possibly even a stylist.
He worked part-time at Potbelly’s and part-
time at a barber shop.
He was the type of person who thought
through situations and thought about risks
and consequences before ever making a
decision, which is why he chose to stay away
from gangs, even though we grew up in a
rough neighborhood. He loved his family
and would always tell me that our family
would be there for us, no matter what deci-
sions we made. He had a strong head on his
shoulders; he was positive, caring, loving,
responsible, and more importantly, respect-
ful.
Leo didn’t want to attend the traditional
four-year university because he really
wanted to be a barber. Our post-secondary
coach introduced him to Mario Tricoci
University, and we even went on a trip to
Volume 3, Issue 2
Inside this issue:
learn about their programs, tuition, and
Students Work Together to Develop
requirements. When he got back, he Their Leadership Skills
2
talked to Ms. Puentes about the school
and she encouraged him to keep looking Reporter Press Release: Leadership
3
into the programs. Because both of his and Rock Climbing
parents worked, and he knew she was
Lawrenceville JILG Asks,
more knowledgeable on the subject, he 4
“May I Help You?”
asked her if she would be willing to go to
Tricoci University with him to talk about Belleville East’s Field Trip
4
financing options. She did, and he was
able to learn about Eldorado Hold Blood Drive 4
paying for the
school and signed Meet Danville’s Advisory Council 5
up for the Septem-
ber program. Leo Goreville Visits Aisin Manufacturing 5
was worried about
the money, but New Faces, New Year at Fenger:
5
knew he wanted to Welcome Mr. Miller
attend this school. Freeport JILG Holds a Voter
6
Registration Drive
On Thursday,
June 23, 2008 Leo Stinnette & Brown Developers: Teach-
went to St. Xavier ing Students to Reach for Their 6
Dreams
University to play volleyball with some of
his co-workers. After searching for some
Kelly Students Adopt A Beach 6
courts, a ball flew into the water and Leo
dove in to get it. Although the search
Robinson Students Explore Bus Safety 7
and rescue team does not know what
happened; all we know is that Leo did
Starting A New Year: Crane Tech 7
not come back. We sadly learned that
Leo had drowned that evening. Alumni Spotlight:
7
Nashville’s Casey Buretz
We later found out that Leo was a recipi-
ent of a Mario Tricoci scholarship be-
cause they really liked his portfolio. I
know that he was thankful for this class
“Leo was my inspiration
because it helped him get on the path because he not only mo-
that no one else would think about. That
is one of the major reasons why I signed
tivated people, but he
up for JILG. inspired people to do
Many students and teachers showed up to whatever they were pas-
the wake and the ceremony held for him
at school. He was a great friend, student, sionate about.”
brother, son and he will be missed
greatly.
 Page 2
Students Work Together To Develop Their Leadership Skills
Many reporters contributed to this
story, including Armez Coulter of East St. Louis
High School, Sabrina Holmes of Springfield
Southeast, Jordan Crump of Jerseyville Commu-
nity High School, Ta’ler March of Danville High
School, William Hood from Decatur MacArthur,
Jessica Moss from Decatur Eisenhower, Chelsea
Connelly of Robinson, and Alex Zummak from
Jacksonville.
On October 1, 2008 at Oil Belt Camp in
Flora, Illinois, the Jobs for Illinois Graduates
(JILG) Leadership Development Conference
was held. Many schools attended this event
from all over the state including Lawrence-
ville, East St. Louis Sr. High, Springfield,
Belleville East, Belleville West, Jacksonville,
PORTA, Robinson, Alton, Springfield Lan-
phier, Springfield Southeast, Decatur MacAr-
thur, Decatur Eisenhower, Jerseyville Com-
munity, Danville, and Madison High School.
All students who attended are seniors in
high school and hold officer positions as
Reporters, Service Learning Coordinators,
Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Historians, and
Secretaries in their respective high school
Career Associations. Each office had their
own color of clothing and their own job
requirements. At the camp everyone was split
into groups of ten, with a personal instructor
for each group. In the groups there were
numerous activities for the kids that taught
many lessons in trust and team work.
Throughout the first day students partici-
pated in various activities: autograph signing,
group numbers, names, magic carpet, blind,
dry-ice, run through a jump rope, fall off the
log backwards, rope basket, the wheel, the
wall, log activity, another rope activity, and
walk across the wire with a part- then asked what he learns from the JILG pro-
ner. gram in his school; his answer was “I think it
teaches us to be leaders and to help us solve
The activities brought the stu- problems”.
dents out of just one way of
thinking. For example, in some Sabrina Holmes from Springfield Southeast
of the games one of the five interviewed student Tim Villa from Jackson-
senses was taken away, like see- ville High School. She asked him “What do
ing or feeling. This forced the you plan to change as a leader in your
individual to look for someone school?” Tim replied, “I would like to change
to carry him or her through the the way that people look at each other. This
game. They had to trust someone camp was very inspirational. I learned that I
to be their guide, not to let them don’t have to be born a leader and that some-
get hurt. In many activities there one can teach me to be a better leader. Many
were no clear leaders. This think that you have to be chosen or somebody
helped the team to find their has to tell you to lead. That’s not true and I
leaders, who led their team to achieving their learned here that everyone can lead.”
goal. After all the activities students learned
Ta’Ler March from Danville put the camp
that teamwork and communication were the
experience this way, “After two days on a
keys to leadership and success.
campsite with JILG students from all over the
Will Hood from Decatur Macarthur said, state of Illinois, the lesson to be taken back to
“The most memorable moments were when your hometown is that you don’t have to be
we did the trust exercises, where we had to chosen to be a leader, after all- ordinary peo-
stand on a pretty tall log and trust that the ple doing extra ordinary things is all it takes to
rest of the team would have the will and lead.”
strength to catch us, as we fell straight back
into their arms. It taught us to trust others,
even if you don’t really know them, because
everyone won’t steer you wrong. But every-
thing wasn’t just about having fun, we had
some really serious moments, like cracking
down putting on our thinking caps, and
writing this news article”.
The clock rolled around to 6:00 PM when
our guest speaker arrived. Ted Wiese is
known for encouraging students to be lead-
ers and to never back down. He talked to us,
motivated us, and had some really fun leader-
ship activities for us all to do. We all had a
good time, laughing, dancing, and being
extremely challenged to work as a team. Mr.
Wiese was an inspiration to us all; he really
made this conference fun. Chelsea Long, a
senior and a secretary from Jerseyville, Illi-
nois said “my most wonderful moments were
the activities done with Ted, and it was so
much fun meeting new people.”
Jessica Moss from Decatur Eisenhower inter-
viewed Nathan Kalaskie from Southeast
High School in Springfield, Illinois. She
asked him what he learned from the confer-
ence; his answer was, “It taught me leader-
ship, communication and team work.” She
 Volume 3, Issue 2 Page 3

Reporter Press Release: Leadership and Rock Climbing

Contact: Link Lognion via Mr. Coley O’Connell FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: (815) 464-7117
Email: coconnell@jilginc.com
LEADERSHIP AND ROCK CLIMBING
From all over the state, students from the Illinois Career Association (ICA) program gathered at Camp Manitoqua on Tuesday October 14,
2008 in Frankfort IL to participate in the Leadership Development Conference (LDC) course. Through a series of both fun and challenging
events, the officers from the ICA program were pushed and conditioned to be the best leaders they could be. From rock climbing to a version
of “Family Feud,” the students were presented a chance to show their true colors, come together, and excel even further in their leadership
skills to return home and better guide their peers.
On the rock climbing wall, the teens from the ICA were given the opportunity to show what they were truly made of and tackle the obstacle
course head-on. One student, Brooke Miller, said “[The wall] was very exciting, but scary at the same time.” Other students agreed completely
with her. The wall was difficult and frightening to climb, but an invigorating experience none the less. By working together and challenging
their own limits, the kids became not only stronger leaders, but stronger friends.

The activities may have been hard, but harder still was the challenge posed to bond together with kids from different schools, different lives
and backgrounds and work alongside one another to become better leaders. Throughout the day, the teens were separated from their own
schoolmates and mixed together with a different student from each school. No one knew each other’s names—some had never even heard to
the schools some students were from—and all of them had lived completely opposing lives. But, by accepting their difference and working to
each other’s strengths, the ICA officers overcame those barriers and formed new friendships. Keira Ellis, a student from Lincoln-Way East,
said that her experiences here “taught [her] about [herself] and other people.” Another student from LWE, Max Triezenberg, said “It was
cool… really involved and focused a lot on teamwork and leadership. If you can’t learn to work with other people and listen to their opinions,
you won’t get anywhere.”
Though the trip only lasted two days, the teens learned a lot of valuable life lessons and things about themselves they possibly didn’t know
before. There’s no doubt that, when they left Camp Manitoqua, they returned home more prepared for life’s challenges and as much stronger
leaders.
###

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Link Lognion, please call Mr. O’Connell at (815) 464-7117
or email Mr. O’Connell at coconell@jilginc.com
 Page 4

Lawrenceville JILG Asks, “May I Help You?”

This month the Lawrenceville High School
JILG students had the pleasure of serving at
of Education 12. JILG students had the coaches of the Little Illini Conference.
pleasure of meeting and serving their State
Representative Roger Eddy from Hutson- We are not sure which meal was better or
ville, IL .
Several of the JILG students sang in the
choir that provided entertainment for the
evening.
The

two banquets. which group ate the most but we know we

The first banquet was held on September
10th at Parkside grade school. It was the
Illinois School Board Association, consist-
ing of administrators, school board mem-
bers, and representatives of Regional Office
certainly had a good time and enjoyed the
evening.
Thank you to the Illinois School Board Asso-
ciation and the Little Illini Conference for
next night JILG allowing us to be of service in your events.
was a little busier serving the

Belleville East’s Trip to Cardinal Career Day and Anheuser Busch

Belleville East JILG students attended the Front Office and learned about such careers tation by the Cardinals front office, JILG
St. Louis Cardinals Career Day at Busch as: Human Resources, Finance, Ticket Sales, students toured Anheuser Busch where
Stadium, Thursday, September 25. The St. Ticket Services, Stadium Opera- they
Louis Cardinals tions, Player
invited students Development &
who have an inter- Scouting and
est in working in Fan Develop-
the professional ment & Alumni
sports field to Relations. learned the history of the company. The
attend their An- students also visited the Clydesdales barn
nual Career Day at Students heard various speak- and toured the bottling plant while they
Busch Stadium. ers describe their careers and learned about the many job opportunities.
Students attended discuss how they became a A special thank you goes out to the St.
a special pre-game Q & A Panel Discussion part of the Cardinals organization. Speakers Louis Cardinals Organization and An-
on with members of the St. Louis Cardinals included Dan McLaughlin. After the presen- heuser Busch!

Eldorado Holds Blood Drive

“It was a good day,” says Kristi Al- School give blood. Unfortu- the Eldorado JILG
len. “We nately, people actually members volunteered
had a had to be turned their time to help put
g r e a t away because we ran on the Blood Drive
turn out out of time. After and to also participate
at the giving blood many in it. We would like to
blood participants were thank the American
drive!” surprised to know Red Cross for helping
that giving blood was us put this event on
We had not as bad as they and everyone who par-
31 Jun- thought. Many of ticipated in it..
iors and Seniors at Eldorado High

Meet the 2008-09 Danville High
School JILG Advisory Council.
From left to right: Amanda Camp-
bell- DHS Counselor, Darin
Chambliss- DHS Assistant Princi-
pal, Paul Marana-Dean, Monica
Smith-Mcray- DHS Counselor,
and Kelli Simpkins-DHS Coun-
selor.
These hard working professionals
have volunteered their time to be
advisors to the Danville High
School JILG program. Many
thanks to them. These individuals
are well known to us all within
New Year, New Faces at Fenger Academy: Meet Mr. Miller
The 2008-2009 Jobs for Illinois
Graduates school year program
at Christian Fenger Academy
(located on the south side of
Chicago) began with an influx
of new faces; both with the
students and the teacher. The
arrival of Mike Miller to the
Fenger JILG program marked
the third different JILG teacher
in as many years at Fenger. Mr.
Miller is excited to propel the
senior Class of 2009 to great
heights as they prepare for their
departure from Fenger and
arrival into the workforce or
postsecondary education.
As of lately the Fenger JILG
students have been working on
Volume 3, Issue 2 Page 5
Meet Danville’s JILG Advisory Council
the school, but here are some
things you don’t know about
them. One runs 100 miles a
month; one loves jewelry; one
lived in Europe for 5 months; one
is a cancer survivor; and finally
one earned their college money by
being a part-time mud wrestler.
Can you match them?
Goreville Visits Aisin Manufacturing
By: Gabby wide range of products for the facilities. Additionally,
McNeely, Reporter some of the most demanding workers from the engineering,
customers in the automotive human development and ac-
On September 30, counting departments discussed
Goreville High industry including Toyota,
General Motors, Lexus, and their career paths with students.
School JILG stu- It was a very interesting day,
dents participated Mitsubishi. These products
include Sunroofs, Slide and and we would like to thank the
in a tour of Aisin Aisin Human Development
Manufacturing in Back Door components, Cen-
team for allowing us to visit.
Marion, Illinois ter Pillar Garnishes, and door
(AMI). AMI is handles.
manufactures a
Students were given a tour of
and studying the complexities of a exceptional presentations on a Mr. Miller, a select few were cho-
successful team. Students have variety of subjects, including the sen from each class. Many of the
been grouped together to solve negative effects of alcohol, on- students selected have rare oppor-
problems and present their solu- campus versus off-campus tunities to venture outside the city
tions to lunches and of Chicago and found the LDC in
the class. various other Frankfurt a great prospect and
A f t e r subjects. learning experience. Senior Mi-
proper chel-la Harrison says that she
teamwork Another high- “looks forward to gaining valuable
skills had light of Sep- leadership skills.” Reporter officer
been es- tember’s JILG Corey Spence is stated with saying
tablished, classes have that he “will enjoy developing my
we then been the in- leadership skills and getting out-
discussed troduction of side of the city.” The LDC prom-
the funda- the Leader- ises to be a great opportunity for
mental ship Develop- students to broaden their hori-
skills used in giving a proper pres- ment Conference to the stu- zons and become more involved
entation. With these skills the dents. Although many students in the Career Associations.
students then formed themselves wished to go to the conference
into groups and were able to give after it was described to them by
 Page 6
Freeport JILG Holds a Voter Registration Drive
By: Larry Artis, Anthony
Ellis, Jennifer Bookman
It is a very important process
for young adults to register
to vote. Many people don’t
realize what a privilege it is to
vote. On September 30,
Freeport High School JILG
held voter registration drive
by the Moseley Street
entrance from 7am to
7:30am. Thirty-one high
school students who were
going to be eighteen years of
age by November 4th or were
Stinnette & Brown Developers: Teaching
Students to Reach For Their Dreams
By: Thomas Lenoir, III
“Through JILG I Jobs for Illinois Gradu-
ates is an excellent pro-
am being equipped gram that helps to pro-
mote corporate leader-
to succeed in ship and increases pro-
fessional networking.
future ventures.”
This is best supported
through the various
guest speakers that
come to converse with the
class. One of the premiere
speakers was Ms. Brown
Kelly Students Adopt-a-Beach
JILG students volunteered to
help clean the environment
on 57th and Lake Shore
Drive on Sept. 20th 2008
(behind the Museum of
Science and Industry) .
There were about 25
JILGsters and, we were di-
vided into groups of 4 and5.
The Adopt-a-Beach Cleanup
serves to raise public aware-
ness about beach pollution
and encourages responsible
behavior through education
and outreach. It was an
already eighteen
registered to vote. We sent
invitations to all student
eligible to register, made
posters and put an an-
nouncement in channel one.
Mrs. Koch, Mrs. Kanosky,
and Mrs. Mikkelson, were
the official registrars. The
process was very simple. You
filled out a sheet of paper
with basic information and
took an oath. Mayor Gaul-
rapp was present to congratu-
late the new voters and
Happy Joes donated two
and Ms. Stinnette
who visited
the class on Monday, Sep-
tember 22nd. They came to
incredible way to help keep
our environment clean and a
great way to get to know
other JILGsters. We also had
breakfast pizzas for those
students who registered. In
the short half hour before
school we were able to regis-
ter thirty-one students. This
years presidential election
will contain Barack Obama
from the Democrats and
John McCain for the Repub-
licans. This election could
make history. Let your voice
be heard.
promote entrepreneurial
awareness. Their overall
message of pursuing our
dreams, taking the initia-
tive to open and manage
business inspired me.
Their unique approach for
finding an overlooked need
in the current market and
utilize that to earn wealth
was informative. Through
JILG I am being equipped
to succeed in future ven-
tures.
an opportunity to meet
United States Senator Dick
Durbin, of Illinois. It was
really great to know that
senators from Illinois care
and appreciate the effort
that people are putting
within the community.
Afterwards we
played soccer , got wet,
and had food.
We hope that you will be
able to join us on our
n e x t t r i p !

Robinson Students Explore Bus Safety
Joyce Weger of the Unit 2
transportation visited the
Robinson High School JILG
classroom
to explain
the Buster
the Bus
Safety
program
to JILG
students.
Buster is a
remote
controlled
bus that is used to train ele-
mentary students about bus
safety and bus rules. Buster is
controlled by one person
Starting A New Year: Crane Tech
By: Bryant
Lewis
On Septem-
ber 2nd, the
Jobs for Illi-
nois Gradu-
ates program
at Crane Tech Prep was in-
troduced to a new class of
students. The Jobs for Illi-
nois Graduates program is a
program that prepares Sen-
iors for college and employ-
ment. JILG gives us insight
Alumni Spotlight: Nashville’s Casey Buretz
The ribbon cutting made it
official. Casey Buretz,
member of the Nashville
Community High School
JILG Class of 2006, is now
the owner and operator of
her own spa and salon in
Nashville. This has been a
dream of Casey’s for some
time.
Casey attended Kaskaskia
College and majored in
Volume 3, Issue 2 Page 7
while a second person pro- JILG students will begin
vides the voice for Buster helping in late October. Our
while a third person acts as first time out with Buster
Buster’s will be at Washington Grade
partner in School in late October. JILG
the lesson. students are very excited to
The local have the opportunity to be-
B us t e r gin helping with the Buster
program is program.
very suc-
cessful and
popular
with local
elementary
students. The program has
grown so much that the local
Unit 2 Buster team is seek-
ing help with the program.
into what to expect after we College. They gave us details
graduate from high school. about their schools and some “JILG gives us
In the first month, we prac- general advice about careers
ticed leadership, communica- and college. We are looking insight into what
tion, and problems solving forward to a fun year ahead.
skills by doing team building to expect after
activities. We also explored
our interests, aptitudes, and we graduate
abilities. We had two repre-
sentatives visit the JILG class- from high
room. Nina Joiner came
from the International Acad- school.”
emy of Design and Technol-
ogy, and Keisha Heard came
from Northwestern Business
C o s m et o l o g y . A ft er and learn more about the
graduating, Casey went process of opening her own
through the long and tedious business.
process of applying for the
Women’s Small Business
Loan. She created and
presented a successful
business plan and was
awarded a loan to start her
business. Casey believes the
communication skills she
learned in JILG helped her
to ask the right questions

Springfield Office
500 W. Monroe St., Suite 2NW
Springfield, IL 62704
Officers Attend Leadership Development Conference
By: Holly Weathers, Nashville Reporter
JILG officers in Southern Illinois
attended a Leadership Development
Conference on September 24th and
25th at the Oil Belt Church Camp in
Flora, IL. The conference gave each
student a feel for what they will be
doing this year and how to be a good
leader for their class. Students were
also involved in many activities that
included trusting and working with
officers from other schools, as well as
working together with the JILG offi-
cers from their own school.
Many activities were held outside on
what they call the “ropes course”.
The activities were mentally and
physically challenging for all students.
Students were split into their officer
groups and had to work together to
achieve each obstacle. From trust falls, to
walking on wires, to climbing walls, the
day was hard but very successful.
The Skills to Graduate
The Confidence to Succeed
In the evening, Mr. Chuck Roach, President of
the Challenge Leadership Program, spoke to the
JILG officers and teachers. Mr. Roach focused
on four important skills: performance under
pressure, risk taking, building teamwork, and
reaching your greatest potential. He involved
everyone in activities to reinforce his points.
We’re on the web!
www.jilginc.org
At the end of the day each officer group had
time to work on certain projects for their
JILG classes. The reporters had the
chance to interview students and teach-
ers and find out just what they thought
about the camp. Linda Spicer, the
Central Region JILG Manager, was
asked how students could use what
they learned at the conference in their
own schools and communities. She
replied, “By being a positive leader and
taking the job to heart. If you help out
in the community and school, they see
the work you’ve done and you get back
what you put into it.”
The 2008 Leadership Development
Conference was successful. Many new
friends were made, important skills
learned, and true leaders left camp. Thanks
to Tom Welch, the Regional Managers, staff
members at the camp, and all of our Career
Specialists who made this awesome experi-
ence possible!