

On Thursday, June 27, 2024, Excelsior Springs Job Corps Center (ESJCC) Business Community Liaison Angela Reschke invited community partners to enjoy a meal and give recognition to those who are making a difference in the lives of the students they serve.


Excelsior Springs SAFE was recognized as Community Partner of the quarter. SAFE Director Julia Mees was present to receive the recognition. SAFE’s mission is reducing drug use in the youth of our community. Monthly Mees organizes a meeting at the Excelsior Springs Hospital that brings together youth and health professionals throughout the area to discuss the challenges that exist in the lives of the youth of Excelsior Springs and seeks to provide awareness and education to the public. At each meeting a professional is invited to share the work that their organization is doing or educate on a specialty area that may be of interest to others in the room. This meeting usually consists of 30-35 professionals and provides a great opportunity for them to connect and network together with those who are doing similar work in the community.


Job Corps Center Director Lori Sams spoke about the wonderful partnership that exists between the community and the Center. The community offers the students a chance for work experience through their work based learning program, where students work at businesses in town, providing them an opportunity to practice the skills they are learning on campus in a real world environment. Sams also spoke about some students’ experiences of community may not be one that is positive, safe, inviting. She talked about the pride that she has living in Excelsior Springs, knowing that our community is welcoming and gives them a different perspective on what community means.
Also recognized was Tanner Turner, a welding student who plans to get certification in welding and then transfer to the Clearfield, Utah Job Corps where he will become certified in Diesel Mechanics. ESJCC has recently hired two new culinary instructors, Sarah Woods and Tony Smith, who were recognized for the great job they are doing with the trade. Culinary students who prepared the meal were introduced and the professionalism that they display is thanks to the instructors who set that expectation in the classroom.


There will be a 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Job Corps program on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 that the public is invited to attend. It will be from 5:00pm-9:00pm at The Montgomery Event Venue, 425 S Thompson Ave, in downtown Excelsior Springs. There will be a livestream of the national celebration from Washington D.C. starting at 5:00pm. There will be refreshments, photo opportunities, music, prizes, and more.
Also in attendance were elected officials, Mayor Mark Spohn, City Councilman and Former Police Chief John McGovern, Clay County Commissioner JoAnne Lawson, and Clay Co Health Dept Board Trustee Courtney Cole.


If you appreciate the value our local journalism brings to the community, please consider making a recurring contribution to the Excelsior Citizen!