Hubert H. Humphrey (St. Paul, MN) Business & Community Liaison Josie Kuhn virtually interviewed a Job Corps graduate who shares her struggles early on in life and how Job Corps helped her get where she is today.

Just because a lot of us are working from home right now,” says Josie, “doesn’t mean we can’t share the success of our former students.”

So, Josie interviewed former student Mikki McGill via Zoom and walked us through her journey and success with Job Corps.

“My name is Mikki McGill. I came to Minnesota in the 1990’s because of Job Corps. I transferred to the Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps from the city Chicago.” She explains, “I was very much down on my luck at that time. I had flunked out of college, but not because I wasn’t college material, and it wasn’t because I was stupid. It was because I just need support and a way to build other foundations first.”

She said, “I was just about homeless. I was staying with my last friend, and I couldn’t stay there any longer. But I found out about this program called Job Corps.”

Mikki went to the Joliet Job Corps center in Illinois, where she graduated. Next she transferred to the Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center in Minnesota for advanced training with the Transportation Communications Union. Mikki says “I was able to thrive and to focus and learn some valuable skill on my way to graduation. And, when I was in Job Corps”, she said,“ I had role models and mentors. Women who were mothers to me. And taught me things that I hadn’t picked up on my own, or from my own mother.”

She went on to say, “ My life has not been a straight journey. Job Corps was certainly a help up. I helped me become a productive citizen, and a productive person. I was able to achieve a number of my goals. In the areas of education and business. I have had a great career in finance and budgeting with the government. I left that about seven years ago to work with international exchange. Which means I worked with international students and other people who are moving here.”

Now Mikki is a mediator with Red River Mediations. It’s a business I stared up”, she said, Because I love mediation and being able to support people. People who are going through transition, people who are going through difficulty. You know I’ve been through that, so I know what it’s like. And a lot of the reason I’m here now is because of the path I took through Job Corps.”