I M Sure Many of You Are Wondering What You Are Doing Here and What JAG Is All About. JAG

Dear JAG,

I’m sure many of you are wondering what you are doing here and what JAG is all about. JAG is a city wide program, called different things at different schools. It is designed to give kids a family at school, to build relationships with one group of peers and one teacher for the next 4 years.

I will be your advocate. If you have a problem, come and see me first. If you have a problem with a teacher, see me first. They will be coming to see me first about you! We will try to work through things together. Write me a note if you don’t feel comfortable talking about things. It is my job to help you to have a better high school experience.

Maybe you have friends in this JAG, maybe not. But here we will break down group walls, forget what happens in the commons and on the weekend, and be friends here in this room. We will have respect here. You will get to know each other quite well in the next 4 years – people that you would not normally be around.

We will celebrate together. You will likely get your drivers’ license and we will cheer you on. You will be a success on a team and we will cheer you on. You will be in the drama production and we will cheer you on. You will grow 4 inches taller in the next 4 years, and we will be amazed! You will make it to school and graduate despite not wanted to be here, and we will be happy for you.

We will mourn together. Maybe the loss of a game, maybe the loss of a friend. Maybe neither will be permanent, maybe both will be. So we’ll get through it together. You might fail classes, or fail a grade, or fail to show up. We’re going to help you.

We will be a family together, and like any family we will fight sometimes, laugh sometimes, get mad sometimes. There will be deposits into each other’s emotional bank accounts, and there will be withdrawls. Hopefully, there will be more deposits than withdrawls. Like any family, we will eat together. Maybe for a birthday, maybe no reason at all except for the fact that it is Friday and we made it through the week.

So that is what JAG is all about. Remember this day, the first day of JAG, and look around. These are the people that you are going to be walking across the stage with as you graduate high school.

Sincerely,

M. Gullickson