By John Howell Sr.
Finch-Henry Job Corps Center hosted business partners and student government leaders Friday during events that included talks by Panola County’s Miss Hospitality and St. Louis minister and writer Rev. William Jenkins.

Guests for a luncheon included representatives of local businesses who utilize Job Corps students in work-based learning programs, Batesville Elementary School Principal LaSherry Irby and Vice-Principal Patty Dennis, Panola Partnership CEO Sonny Simmons, Mississippi Department of Transportation Human Resources Director Greg Franklin, among others.
Center director Cordella Smith said that the Finch-Henry Job Corps Center (FHJCC) is currently ranked 35th of 129 Job Corps centers in the U. S. in overall rankings and first in surveys of student satisfaction.

The center is “among the top ten percent when it comes to placement,” Smith said, referring to followup studies required of students in jobs after they leave FHJCC.

FHJCC is presently authorized for 192 students with 168 presently enrolled, “so we are adding ten to 12 students every week,” Smith continued.

“Our center is providing quality graduates,” Smith said. “Our students come prepared.”
She said that she appreciated the support that the business and community representatives provided.

“It’s a program that works,” Community Relations Council member and former president Brenda Black said.

FHJCC student government leaders hosted their counterparts from Memphis’ Benjamin E. Hooks Job Corps Center following Friday’s lunch.

Panola County Miss Hospitality Olivia Battle shared personal perspective with the student government leaders, including her ABCs:
“Avoid negative people,” she said. “Be confident in yourself. Consider what you want to do, and Do it,” Battle said.

Battle will be a junior at Ole Miss with plans to major in exercise science, then go to nursing school with a goal of ultimately becoming a nurse anesthetist.

Rev. Jenkins told the student leaders that he emphasizes character training in his ministry and writing.

His books, including “The Good Book: Character is the Thing,” “Parenting Toward School Success,” and “A Student’s Guide to Success in School,” can be ordered from his web site, www.jenkinsmind.org.