Effort hopes to bring Jay grads home (11/21/07)

Jay County High School graduates are wanted at home.

The Portland Area Chamber of Commerce has been tracking students who have left the county to pursue higher education and employment and is working to lure them back. Since 2000, the organization has conducted student surveys, monitored alumni movements and maintained contact with area families in hopes of bringing some of JCHS's best and brightest pupils home to work in Jay County.

The graduate-tracking program has several purposes, but the venture mostly comes down to economic development, said Vicki Tague, executive director for the chamber. The addition of young, highly educated laborers from diverse areas of study ensures a strong, talented workforce in Jay County for years to come. Bringing graduates back, she added, will allow the community to minimize an exodus of well-trained employees to other areas of the country.

"We've been discussing that brain drain issue, and just the fact that we want to keep our young adults in this community," Tague said. "Obviously as those that are going away for post-secondary training are leaving, we wanted to encourage them to return because they are valuable assets to this community in a lot of ways. We decided to take a proactive approach in encouraging them to return."

Tague also said young, skilled workers can draw new industries to Jay County, because if potential employees have the right qualifications, businesses will seek to relocate here.

After they complete high school, graduates' names are entered into a database where information about their achievements and whereabouts is stored.

Students also are encouraged to fill out a survey that is kept on file.

The questionnaire contains queries about post-graduation activities and personal opinions about economic opportunities in Jay County. Data also is gathered from the Jay County High School Alumni Association.

"That's been an ongoing process for us. And our goal there is just really to keep a connection with our graduates - sending them news and a variety of pieces of information about the county," Tague said.

Although all JCHS graduates are encouraged to move back and have facts inputted into the chamber's database, the focus this year has been on the heads of each class. Addresses for parents of the top 50 students in each of the last eight school years has been forwarded to the chamber from Jay County High School. From there, guardians will be sent a postcard and asked to disclose contact information and other data about their children.

Wood Barwick, assistant superintendent for Jay School District and a board member of the chamber of commerce, said former students have expressed much interest in returning home after post-secondary graduation.

Although people with education in some fields may have difficulty finding employment here, Barwick said, several former JCHS students have earned work in Jay County as teachers, engineers, manufacturing managers and in other jobs.

"It'll make us a better county and a better community," he said of bringing back JCHS grads who have left the community.

Overall, the program has surpassed its goals at least this year. The objective for 2007 of having 10 grads return to Jay County has been surpassed. Tague said Twenty-seven former students have come back since June.

For 2002 JCHS grad Hannah Spahr, returning home was an easy decision. Although she was not familiar with the grad-tracking program, after earning a bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Ball State University in 2006 and 2007, she took employment with Bollenbacher & Associates in Portland.

"I prepare tax returns, I do payroll returns, audits, tax planning," she said. "That pretty much sums it up.

"Basically, I grew up here and I like the area so that's why I came back."[[In-content Ad]]