Raymond Barley keeps a notebook where he writes his goals down—and at just 20 years old, he already has a lot of items checked off his list. He is a first-year apprentice with the carpenters union and works as a foreman on a construction site. Just a few years ago, though, his life looked very […]
Caucasian
Tyler Harris
“Hey, Mr. Castle, I want to say how Flatwoods changed my life …” Before Job Corps, Tyler Harris was getting into a lot of trouble. He graduated from high school but found himself making the wrong decisions. “I’ve always been a hard worker, and I love working with my hands. I had no idea about […]
Morgan Griffith
“If it weren’t for Job Corps, I wouldn’t be here where I am.” Morgan Griffith quit school in eighth grade. He had one job at a roofing company but was laid off in the wintertime. He didn’t know what he wanted to do in life and didn’t have anywhere to go. When Morgan turned 18, […]
Sydney Gingery
Sydney Gingery was known as the “silent kid” for a decade. She went to school and grew up with the same people who were in her second-grade elementary class, and only a select few knew what her voice sounded like. Her first few days at Cascades Job Corps changed all that. Sydney blossomed while enrolled […]
David Dressendorfer
When David Dressendorfer arrived at the Springdale Job Corps Center in Oregon, he hadn’t completed high school and was without a permanent residence. He was lost, but his mother’s fiancé told him about a program he had done as a young man also looking for direction—Job Corps. He left his hometown of Pocatello, Idaho, and […]
Sara Shores
“I was living away from home and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. My friend and I were living in a KOA [Kampgrounds of America] until it began snowing, and we each got low-wage jobs and an apartment. I was working in a restaurant during the day and hanging clothes […]
Alex Crowley
Originally from Russia, Alex Crowley, was adopted at 7 years old and moved to Richmond, Va., with his new family. Alex got into trouble frequently growing up and was in and out of juvenile detention. He eventually dropped out of school in 10th grade, and began to work framing houses. His mother found out about […]
Tatiana Volbrecht
A personal event that occurred in high school left Tatiana Volbrecht suffering from PTSD and feeling limited in her options for her future. After graduating from high school, she attended classes at Navarro College but found it was not the best fit for her. Tatiana became a day care teacher after leaving college because she […]
Sarina Benenati
“My advice to someone interested in Job Corps: Jump headfirst into it. Don’t look back. Once you start, hang on to this experience. It’s just a tiny part of your life, but it will follow you and help you from here on out.” Growing up in Montclair, N.J., Sarina Benenati struggled to fit in with […]
Mikki McGill
“My life has not been a straight journey. Job Corps was certainly a help up. It helped me become a productive citizen and a productive person.” It was in the 1990s that Mikki McGill found herself living in the city of Chicago very much down on her luck. “I had flunked out of college, but […]