The easiest place to find Chelsie Edwards these days is on the University of Evansville campus training for the next track and field season. She may speed by you in a blur, but how she got to where she is tells a cross-country tale that has nothing to do with running.
Once upon a time, Chelsie was a Cloverdale High School student in JAG Specialist Karl Turk’s homeroom. She knew she wanted in his popular program when the time came, but had no idea what kind of lessons it would impress upon her.
“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do after high school and going into senior year. That is a little scary because everyone expects you to know what you want to do, even though you are so young,” Edwards said. “That class gave me the opportunity to branch out and see different options that other classes wouldn’t have been able to show me.”
She joined the JAG program her senior year, where she learned the typical lessons that are part of the JAG model. However, she also learned how to break out of her shell.
“The bigger thing for me was I learned how to push myself and push my boundaries. By doing that, I used to hate talking to people [ . . . ] (JAG) opened up opportunities for me in the future. I get asked to do some stuff like this (interview) a lot more now and I am actually comfortable doing it, so it opened up a lot more for me,” Edwards said.
Edwards found personal growth through her JAG program, but also formed strong relationships with her classmates, with whom she still keeps in contact.
"At the beginning of the year it is very weird and these are students that I may not ever talk to on a daily basis, but it became like family. Even the other JAG class that was later in the day, we would still do activities with them so it just became very close-knit,” Edwards said.
She also formed a close relationship with her biggest JAG mentor, Turk. Edwards attributes the family-like bond within the program to Turk’s teaching style, which involves activities that allow students to become closer to him and one another.
“He (Turk) is basically my adopted dad. He became that father figure for me that I needed and just a constant. A lot of kids need that,” Edwards said.
After graduating from Cloverdale High School, Edwards enrolled at Indiana State University for a semester before transferring to Ivy Tech Community College in Terre Haute. In the summer of 2020, Edwards decided to join the Air Force, but shortly learned she could not train for track and cross-country while serving.
Which brings the story full circle to Evansville, where, in addition to renewing her athletic dreams as part of the track and field and cross country teams, she’s studying secondary education with a focus in public health. All while also working towards her special education certification. Turk was part of her inspiration for her career choice.
"Seeing Turk and the way he taught kids and the way he impacted people and just the impact he had on me and my coaches had on me in high school, I just want to impact people like that. Because everyone says kids are the future but it is true,” Edwards said. “If you are willing to put the effort in and have that choice to put your story out there, somebody else is going to relate to it.”
Throughout the pandemic and transitions from school-to-school, Edwards found support in both Turk and her former classmates.
“(Through JAG I realized) You are not alone. There are so many people going through similar things. Just having them to lean on as a support group really helped me get through a lot after high school,” Edwards said.
Although she graduated three years ago, Edwards feels that JAG’s camaraderie and friendship has continued well past the mandatory one-year follow up period. As she went through challenges post-high school, the Cloverdale JAG community gave her a sense of stability.
“Just always being able to lean on them. It doesn’t have to stop after that one year check in. I still talk to my teacher, I still talk to my friends. Being able to
talk to them and still have that support group helped me get through all of the school changes and actually figuring out what I wanted to do and I was just happy to have all of those people still there,” Edwards said.
Comments