“JAG Needs Indiana and Indiana needs JAG more than ever.”An Interview with Shelby Williams, Indiana’s First National JAG Officer

For thousands of Hoosier students, the end of May means the rite of passage of graduation, leaving high school in the rearview mirror and moving onto the next stage of life.

But for Milan Community High School’s Shelby Williams, as it relates to JAG, she’ll be taking some of her past with her as part of her future. Because last month at the Jobs For America’s Graduates National Career Development Conference, Shelby bested a host of qualified students from across the country to be named as the Career Association Secretary, the first such national honor for a JAG Indiana student to serve at the nationwide level.

In the moment: Shelby Williams reacts to hearing her name called as National Career Association Secretary during the awards ceremony at NCDC, held in Indianapolis in April.

“Going into the awards, I was riddled with anxiety,” Shelby recalls of the run-up to National awards when officers were named. I just kept telling myself that I did my best, just trying to keep my spirits high. Then once I heard that ‘from Indiana’ part, I cried. I was shaking, excited, I was so happy.”

And just like that, Shelby from the small community of Milan made famous for its basketball, was officially on the national stage. The lead up to the conference was taxing, she attested, but well worth it in the end either way.

“So the process was definitely challenging more in the sense of I had very long days. I was awake very early in the morning, almost six every morning getting ready and I was in the lobby by 7,” said Shelby, who said she spent all of her free time networking with others as part of her candidacy.

Her decision to run came from a eureka moment of sorts in Washington D.C. participating in the National Student Leadership event put on by JAG National annually.

All smiles: After being named National Secretary, Shelby knows there is work to do in her role, but has already hit the ground running.

“I saw our national team first-hand at the National Student Leadership Academy, and I was just very inspired. I said ‘holy cow, I want to be just like them,’ and I wanted to be able to make a difference too, not just for Indiana but for JAG across the whole nation,” Shelby mused. “So then I came home and I told my Specialist Carol (Schmidt) that I was going to run, and she said ‘okay!’”

But being Secretary is more than just a title to Shelby. She understands the importance of JAG, now more than ever to students in Indiana and beyond. So much so that she recently with fellow state officer Angel Tunny of South Ripley High School, met with U.S. Representative Erin Houchin to drive home the importance of the program in state.

“JAG just provides you with everything that you’re going to need in your adult toolkit, and I feel like being in JAG, I have an upper hand compared to some of my other peers,” stated Shelby.

Speaking to the future of JAG, Shelby noted the importance of the program serving as many students as possible.

Shelby Williams helps lead a workshop at NCDC with her fellow Indiana Career Association officers on day 1 of the conference.

“I would hate, hate, hate to see a future (in Indiana) that is without JAG, and that is a very scary future to think about. JAG needs Indiana and Indiana needs JAG more than ever. JAG is developing the future of America right here, right now in real time in 2025.”

Highlighting the employability skills she’s learned in the program, Shelby remained open about what JAG does for students in a pitch to why the program is so important and what it uniquely gives students.

“The big thing students bring up is that they wonder why there isn’t a class that teaches me real-life stuff. JAG does. JAG gives you the skills and opportunities that are unlike any other program or class that you will have in your everyday high school.

Shelby and Indiana Career Association President, Angel Tunny, sit down with U.S. Rep Erin Houchin on her podcast to discuss the importance of JAG and their journeys within the program.

“Students don’t really know how to get a job or what to do when you have a job. JAG teaches you that. It teaches you how to be an adult.”

And now Shelby enters officially into that stage of life, even though JAG has made her an adult wise beyond her years at a younger age, as she will head to Bearcat country at the University of Cincinnati to major in biology whilst minoring in entrepreneurship. Her goal is to become a dermatologist specializing in aesthetic medicine.

Being the national secretary, she knows her time will be spread thin and admits it will be a challenge to compartmentalize all the in and out-of-school tasks she’ll have, but says that JAG means so much to her, she’ll find ways to balance all the roles.

“JAG is not a bunch of numbers, a bunch of data,” she offered. “JAG impacts real-life humans. JAG needs to stay. JAG needs to grow. JAG needs to flourish.”