Charleston Job Corps Center joined 125 Job Corps centers across the country to celebrate the fourth annual “National Job Corps Commencement Day” ceremony Friday, August 22, 2014 to congratulate the Job Corps students who showed Job Corps Works! by completing the program.

Recent Job Corps graduates employed in West Virginia, employer partners, local policymakers, community leaders, family members and many others recognized these students’ achievements and the investment they made in their futures and community.

Started in 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, the program provides career technical training and education for low-income young people ages 16 through 24. Since opening the first of what would become 125 centers, the program has trained more than 2.7 million young people.

The center received a State Proclamation from Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D-WV) and a Proclamation by Mayor Danny Jones, City of Charleston in recognition of Job Corps 50th Anniversary highlight week, Aug. 18-22, 2014. Congressional remarks were presented by U. S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito, along with remarks from the Office of Senator Joe Manchin, Senator Jay Rockefeller, Congressman Nick Rahall, and WV Secretary of State, Natalie Tennant during the ceremony.

Dr. Jo Harris, President of BridgeValley Community and Technical College encouraged the students to keep striving for success. Several graduates and students of the center attend BridgeValley through our partnership for Dental Assistant and Pharmacy Technician. In closing, she asked graduates, students and staff to repeat one of her favorite quotes, “If it is to be, it’s up to me.”