Macon, GA – America’s Promise Alliance ended their year by naming 12th grade Central Georgia Technical College dual enrollment student, Jordan Tolbert, as their youth leader spotlight of the month.
Tolbert served as a YES (young, employed, successful) young professional consultant in the virtual action roundtable initiative sponsored by America’s Promise Alliance’s YES Project.
“I was originally introduced to America’s Promise Alliance by way of the CGTC YES Project which was a program through the CGTC’s REACH program,” said Tolbert. “In the YES Project me and many other Young Professionals were given the chance to visit three different organizations and businesses and actually take part in their daily work experience. Through the workplace experience, we were able to observe both the good and areas needing improvement within the companies and found ways to create more inclusion and belonging for younger people, more specifically for youth of color.”
As part of this role, he worked as a paid intern at Spherion Staffing, a national recruiting and staffing enterprise, in Byron, GA, last summer. The agency served as an employer partner to CGTC during the project. Tolbert helped co-create strategies to advance diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts at Spherion Staffing.
Tolbert said, “I was able to meet many incredible people who not only gave me incredible advice in order to succeed in the workplace but also gave me valuable advice on how to navigate through the many different areas of my life.”
Jordan Tolbert learned about the opportunity to participate with the YES Project with America’s Promise Alliance through the CGTC REACH Organization while enrolled as a dual-enrolled student in the Summer of 2021.
Tolbert shared key takeaways and lessons learned from this experience in a video, which was shown at a recent virtual summit hosted by America’s Promise Alliance and Grads of Life on Race, Identity, and Belonging in the Workplace.
The REACH (Raising Expectations of Achievement) organization is a mentorship organization providing support to students, more specifically, men of color through mentorship and college internal and external resources. REACH strives to create a college community which pursues, empowers, and fosters an environment for student success, networking, and leadership during the college experience and beyond.
View this link to learn more about REACH and other CGTC Student Organizations: https://www.centralgatech.edu/student-services/campuslife/student-organizations
High school students have the opportunity to earn college course credit through a variety of options at CGTC. Dual enrollment opportunities enhance student engagement, improve graduation rates, and increase student learning. Dual enrollment at CGTC gives high school students the opportunity to get a jump start on their college career by earning college and high school credit simultaneously at little or no cost to the student.