This article is brought to you by the Community Foundation Serving Howard, Clinton, and Carroll Counties. Our 2025 Annual Report, Community Connections, is officially here! Inside, you’ll find stories of generosity, partnership and impact that reflect what’s possible when people come together to support Howard, Clinton and Carroll Counties. From scholarships and nonprofit support to donor stories and community initiatives, this year’s report celebrates the connections that continue to strengthen our communities every day.
Check your mailbox! We can’t wait for you to see it!
Students from around west central Indiana gathered in Ivy Tech Kokomo’s Hingst Hall recently or the 2026 Career Development Conference for students in the Region 4 Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) program.
The annual conference brought together students in regional JAG programs to compete in such subjects as financial literacy, public speaking, and employability skills and for the title Outstanding JAG Senior. This year’s Outstanding JAG Senior for Region 4 was Jazmine Merrill of Benton Central High School, which also won the JAG Champions Award for the school with the best overall performance at the conference.
Since 2007, the JAG program in Indiana has been a state-based national organization committed to helping students of promise overcome their barriers and find their career pathways. The program has offered instruction in important workforce readiness skills while students are in high school and then followed graduates for 12 months after graduation to offer help as they enter postsecondary education, employment or military service.
Shaun Brames, regional JAG program manager, noted that because of state funding cuts, the JAG program, which once had programs in more than 230 schools statewide, ends June 30 after 20 years of impacting students. He thanked Ivy Tech for its 20-year partnership with the program, adding Ivy Tech has always been the primary and best choice for JAG students who want to further their education through short-term trainings and/or associate degrees.