Kelley Miller was a language arts teacher for 18 years, and she loved building relationships with her students and their families.
“I did a lot of writing with the kids and a lot of talking,” Miller says, “so I heard about their lives, and I knew there was a need for a lot more school counselors.”
Some students were struggling with their home lives. Some came from families facing economic struggles; 48 percent of students at her school are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals.
Keenly aware of students’ lives, Miller, last year, became a City Connects Coordinator at Shakamak Junior-Senior High School in Jasonville, Ind. Now she’s building relationships to help meet students’ needs and build on their strengths.
“This position fell into my lap, and honestly, it’s my dream job. I was an academic counselor for one year, and I focused on academics. This job entails so much more. I aim to provide students with more of what they need.”
Initially, Miller says, she and her colleagues were concerned about how City Connects would work in a small rural area. Jasonville has a population of about 2,000 people, and the junior-senior high school has 304 students.
“We thought we might not have enough services available. Options like the YMCA are a 45-minute drive away. But now that I’m starting my second year of implementing City Connects, I feel confident because I can see that it’s working.”
Miller’s early work as a coordinator included networking.
“I started talking to people, and then emails started coming in. I don’t always know how people get my name, but they send me information all the time.”
She found the Greene County Alliance, a coalition that shares information on social services. The Alliance will be hosting training sessions for teachers and counselors who want to learn more about helping students with self regulation. There’s also the Hamilton Center that brings services to Miller’s school, including a school-based counselor and a mentor who helps students set goals. The center is also going to run small, life skills groups for students.
“We also have partnerships with local churches that help our kids. So every month when we recognize the kids’ birthdays, the churches bring in cupcakes. Every time I ask them for something they are 100 percent all in.”
One of the challenges Miller has her eye on is a shortage of afterschool programs. There are options for elementary school students but not for middle and high school students.
“That’s going to take a grant,” she says. “And we’re talking to the churches about possibly using some of their facilities for afterschool programs.”
Miller has also been thinking about older students.
“After doing the whole class review and the individual student review, what I’m seeing with our juniors and seniors is that they don’t know what they want to do at this point in their lives. They’re strong students. Their strength is their academics, but they’re not sure what they want to do.”
So Miller decided to help them find out.
She has created job shadowing opportunities: one student is shadowing a nurse anesthetist, and another student is shadowing a social worker. Miller is also arranging for some students to attend a career fair where they can learn about working for Marathon, an oil company that has a refinery an hour away in Illinois. Other students are working or interning at Greene County Hospital. One student is working at Panera Bread. And another student is working for a local farmer.
“The places I’ve contacted have all been willing to work with the kids,” Miller says. “There’s no reason that a kid shouldn’t have a plan when they graduate. That’s my goal.”
Miller’s work shows how City Connects can work in small communities and in rural ones, especially when community members are excited about helping students.
Miller sums up the key to City Connects’ success this way:
“We’re studying each student so thoroughly, and we’re really figuring out what students need and what strengths we can build on. We are getting kids more opportunities for social-emotional development and career development. There’s just so much we can offer.”
