by Kailey McCarthy

Monday, March 5, 2018

Almost 30 students from Turner Job Corps partnered up with Greater Second Mount Olive Baptist Church Monday afternoon to do yard work around the Good Life City.

FOX 31 caught up with students who say they appreciate the hands on experience while also helping out the community.

21 year old Turner Job Corps student Jeffrey Hampton along with two dozen other students spent the afternoon clearing debris and mending a fence in the Saint John Estates area.

Hampton says he is thankful for the opportunity to be apart of such an influential program.

“It’s like a second chance so mainly, it’s a blessing. More training skills and in the outskirts, the real world, it’ll be very good, this is a great chance to start over,” said Hampton.

The Job Corps program allows students ages 16 – 24 to earn their high school diploma or GED while also getting hands on experience around the community.

Work base Learning Coordinator Melvin Drake says today is just one of the many opportunities students have to get their hands dirty.

“We still want to continue to impress people by letting them know that job corps works, it’s a place where you can come and send kids to get the experience they need,” said Drake.

Drake says many of the kids who are involved in the program couldn’t afford to go to college or are interested in getting more hands on experience before applying for jobs.

“Everyone was not able to get a college scholarship. We have students who just couldn’t afford to go to college, those students decided to go to job corp,” said Drake.

As for Hampton, he says he doesn’t know what he would have done if it weren’t for the job corps program.

“If it wasn’t for this, I’d probably have to go home and try to make something work,” said Hampton.

Hampton now plans to join the military after graduating from the Turner Job Corps program.