YCO 2021 Success Stories
Risa Jackson (Oberlin) 3rd place winner in Public Speaking.
John Marshall
Nathan Parish is a junior at John Marshall High School. In the beginning of the year, Nate did not say much during out virtual classes. Nate was a shy student who would do the work but not contribute much to the conversation. After several lessons on speaking and confidence Nate began to contribute to the class conversations and it seemed he was most comfortable sharing personal stories. When Nate chose to do Public Speaking for the YCO his career specialist was surprised and very pleased that he felt more confident and wanted to share his story publicly. Nate works to help take care of his family and is very dedicated to school and his work. He seems to have fully overcome his barrier of being shy. Today Nate is well spoken and ready to take on another challenge of public speaking.
Oberlin High School
Brandon Eason (Public Speaking participant) was initially (very) reluctant to compete. He diligently prepared, summoned the courage and put aside his nervousness to proudly relate the story of his friend and classmate who committed suicide and how JOG has helped him ascertain his future plan to help others.
Kelise Trotter (Decision Making participant) is a transplant from California. She has had a difficult time making new friends and establishing a comfort level at her new school. During preparation for the YCO she opened up to Summer Paris of Cleveland Cliffs and made such an impression that Summer has offered to become a mentor moving forward!
Jacquelyn Sirocky and Audrey Halstead (Community Service participants) took ownership of putting together the slides and audio presentation, needing little to no oversight. This effort paid dividends as they not only placed first in the YCO, but also received kudos from the Students for Service judges at the CDC.
Euclid High School
Eriona Kirksey was very nervous about doing a voice over for the Community Service Powerpoint. She put her nerves to the side and was able to do a wonderful voice over job for Community Service.
Michael Patterson (Public Speaking Participant) has an extremely busy schedule with work, honors classes, extra-curricular activities and the senior end of year commitments. He was able to find the time to write his winning speech and practice with his Career Specialist Instructor in the evenings. He learned the lesson of prioritizing and maximizing on his time to achieve set goals.
Janiya Parrish was extremely anxious about competing in Corporate Team Challenge. She wanted to back out of the competition. With encouragement and reassurance, Janiya along with her partner finished in first place. Her stick to it attitude paid off, not only with placing in the competition but also winning the $1000 gift card as a result.
Glenville
Brandon Jones, has barely been able to attend our JOG courses for a myriad of reasons including hybrid class transitions and stress of this year but showed up to his mock interview for YCO dressed and ready to-go! He was confident, kind and made the interviewer laugh. When she asked at the end if he had any questions, he confidently asked to know more about the interviewer. They were then able to connect over several shared interests. It was his first interview ever.