Cloverdale High School alumni Kierra Gilliam, who graduated in 2019, proves that it is okay to be unsure about the future, a lesson that she learned in her JAG classroom. She originally joined JAG with little knowledge of the program, but shortly learned skills that she uses to this day.
“I was new to that school at the time so I had no idea what JAG was, but all of my friends that I had at the time were in the program and they were like ‘It is a really fun program. It is really interactive and it is just a fun class so I just signed up for it not really knowing what it was until I got into it,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam learned aspects that all JAG classrooms teach, including resumes, cover letters, and job skills. However, she also discovered how to be the best version of herself.
“I learned a lot of goal setting too, we did a lot of goal setting in that class which was really nice for me just to apply that in my adult life,” Gilliam said. “Also, I was a really shy student at the time and that was the one class that I could open up in. I felt like I learned good communication skills and to bond with other people, my classmates, and we could come together.”
Although she graduated three years ago, Gilliam still keeps in touch with her former classmates and Cloverdale JAG Specialist Karl Turk. After graduation, Gilliam enrolled at IUPUI to study criminal justice, while being enrolled in beauty school simultaneously. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Gilliam changed her plans.
“COVID happened and everything moved online. I really struggled with that. I struggled with my grades and all of that. I decided that I needed a fresh start, so I decided to kind of drop everything and move to Florida,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam currently resides in Florida and enrolled again in esthetician school. She now works at a spa near Siesta Key. As she continued her work as an esthetician, she realized her passion for taking care of others.
“I really like to pamper people. I actually start nursing school at SCF (State College of Florida) here in Florida in mid-August. It is super cool because you can actually tie the nursing and esthetics together, so that is my long-term kind of goal,” Gilliam said.
Although Gilliam has figured out her career goals now, working towards becoming a Registered Nurse (RN) in an esthetics realm, she was not always that way. She found support and guidance through Turk and her JAG experience.
“I was very stuck in life with my career plans at the time, when I was in college, so I reached out to Mr. Turk and said, ‘I feel stuck right now.’ He would always just give me the best advice and try and guide me in the right direction without pushing me necessarily one way or the other. He always reviewed anything I wrote for school. It was just very helpful,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam uses JAG lessons regarding credit scores, loans, education, and jobs every day both in her professional and personal life.
“All of those little things, I always go back to JAG because it teaches you a lot of life skills that at the time you are like ‘this is silly, I don’t want to pay attention to this.’ But, if you really pay attention and sit back, it helps you so much with life,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam has now figured out a path that works for her. However, it took time, knowledge, support, and bravery to reach that point, all of which she built in JAG.
“Sometimes all it takes is a fresh start,” Gilliam said.
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