ROME – As more and more baby boomers age out of the workforce it is critical that new workers be ready to fill that void.
Students are learning problem solving, and career skills at a leadership program called "Up- Ta Camp. "
James Belyea a senior said "I enjoy being a part of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG) because it really helps me discover what I want to do with my future where I want to go for college. Helps me be more of a leader."
Melanie Clark another senior at the program stated: "When we come here we get to step out of our comfort zone and work with a bunch of different kids from different schools all over the state and I really like that part."
Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG) is an organization that partners with public schools and private businesses to offer results-driven solutions to really ensure that all Maine students are graduating high school and pursing a meaningful career.
Matt St. John the director of operations at JMG said "What we do here at the leadership education conference is we have a group of leaders from every program around the state of Maine that come and do a variety of leadership initiatives to really set the tone of the school year."
They put them through fun team building and business-like activities to try and challenge them. Every year they have a theme and this year’s theme is “innovation”.
St. John said "And innovation as you know is an incredibly important concept to moving forward in the 21st century. We really want our JMG students to think about innovation and it relates to leadership."
One of the activities involves thinking about an idea or problem in their community, and coming up with an innovative idea or solution. They even had judges giving them constructive criticism and advice.
