Job Corps

Sweet sourwood honey flowed, and pickled banana peppers, beets, pearl onions and more stood proud in the Cherokee Fall Festival in Cherokee, North Carolina. There was also stunning, blue ribbon-worthy sewing and needlepoint, plenty of fresh cobs of Indian corn, and vibrant gourds and squash in...

In the back parking lot of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), seven workers wear neon green shirts with the Camp Crew logo written across the back. And they stand out. They are young and their bright T-shirts contrast with those of the more seasoned personnel. As the crew works among large...

It’s spring! And while gardeners typically scrutinize seed catalogs for what crops to plan, Boxelder Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center students are working to save America’s diverse, but endangered, garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, saving and sharing heirloom...

Preparing for a career involves many steps, plus individual motivation as well as help from those who’ve gone before you. That’s what a group of 60 Harpers Ferry Job Corps students explored recently during a recent training session related to job preparedness for the U.S. Forest Service. Their...

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Economic Opportunity Act. This Act, part of the government effort to wipe out poverty, created the Job Corps program, which has had a positive effect on countless young lives, giving them a chance to break multi-generational cycles of...

For the second time, I spilled burn mix on my clothing as I reached to replace a drip torch, a wildland firefighting tool used to ignite fires for controlled burns. After three days of working with the Davidson River Initial Attack Crew, I was getting used to how things worked – except for the drip...

Until recently, Thomas Barnett, formerly of Washington state, did not have a career goal in mind. However, this spring, the 24-year-old graduated from the Centennial Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Nampa, Idaho, and will begin his career as a seasonal firefighter on a fire crew with the...

Each year, thousands of volunteers across the country participate in the largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands in America, National Public Lands Day. Students and staff of the Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center contributed over 250 hours of service on the Nantahala and...

In the early morning light, 15 students look for the first time at a traditional Cherokee rivercane basket and marvel at the colors and detail. Western Carolina University’s Adam Griffith of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines passes the basket around as he explains the cultural and...

For the past eight years, students in the Boxelder Job Corps Center culinary arts program have benefited from chef Dave Levesque's wide-ranging cooking experiences. Located in the Black Hills National Forest near Nemo, the Boxelder Job Corps Center has 24 students in its culinary arts curriculum...