Job Corps expands services to put more youths into careers

By John Howell
There has seldom been a better time than now to enroll at Finch-Henry Job Corps Center as a student, according FHJCC Business/Community Liaison Roger Givens.
Givens said that the center has plenty of openings for new students. Student education will continue uninterrupted regardless of who has the contract for its operation. Faculty and staff at the Finch-Henry Job Corps Center are hopeful that Minact’s contract to operate the Batesville Center will be continued.
Young people who might be interested include 12th graders who have almost completed high school but who have not been able to pass the required state tests. If the student enrolls in FHJCC, he or she can complete high school courses as well as one of the eight career training programs available there. Once both programs have been successfully completed, the student will receive a high school diploma without further testing, according to Givens.
“We don’t try to take them out of school,” Givens said, “but if they are falling behind, they are more likely to drop out.”
The business/community liaison said that a student who enrolls now and enters one of the career training programs that can be completed in as little as five months — certified nurse assistant, office administration or materials handling and distribution —  while also completing their high school work could be ready to enroll in college by the January, 2018 spring semester. Students who qualify for openings in a cooperative program with Northwest Mississippi Community College can enroll as college students while they remain at FHJCC, according to Givens. College tuition, fees and books are provided for FHJCC students who qualify for the NWCC program as well as transportation to and from the Senatobia campus.
In addition to nurse assistant, office administration and material handling, FHJCC offers career training in bricklaying, carpentry, culinary arts, painting and welding. A Job Corps student receives an allowance paid twice monthly, free room and board in modern dormitories, all meals, medical and dental care and other services, according to the center’s web site, finchhenry.jobcorps.gov.
Job Corps provides additional support for transition after graduation including a $1,000 transition allowance, job placement assistance, career and relocation counseling.
Additional information about FHJCC enrollment and opportunities is available on the web site or by calling (800) 733-5627.

Homeless student finds
career path at FHJCC
One FHJCC student who is also enrolled as a Northwest Mississippi Community College student said he first learned about Job Corps opportunities while listening to Pandora Internet Radio in a Memphis homeless shelter.
Antonio Perry said that the shelter was where he had ended up and spent four months after the death of his parents.
“All of a sudden, God reached me through Pandora and led me to Job Corps,” he said. He enrolled at Batesville in January, 2016.
Perry has since successfully completed the culinary arts training under chef Kevin Bobo, earned his high school diploma and qualified to continue his education at Northwest. He said that he is majoring in outdoor recreation, but his goal is to become a chef, perhaps at a casino or maybe on a cruise ship.
Perry also works part-time at Batesville’s McDonalds and is among many anxiously awaiting the completion of the new replacement store under construction at Highways 6 and 51.
Perry is quiet and reserved in his conversation, but when asked about what he found at the Batesville center that he had not anticipated when he began to think about enrolling, he immediately responded, “friends, I like my friends.”

Another FHJCC student, Jasmine Wilson, clarified that by “friends” she also included center staff members.
“The staff is really, really friendly and they care so much about your well-being. It’s not like that everywhere,” she said.
Wilson completed high school in Vicksburg and tried college. “It wasn’t for me,” she said.
She said that her online research into the skills she would need to present herself as an asset in an office environment brought her to Batesville in January for career training in office administration. She not only completed her career training, but served as vice-president of the Student Government Association.
Her success in the basic office administration career training here has led to another opportunity: advanced training at the Hubert Humphrey Job Corps Center in Minneapolis.
Wilson will leave today to continue Job Corps training at the Minnesota facility.
“Not only that, I will receive additional training in airlines,” she said, anticipating specialty training offered for job opportunities in the airline hub city.