LANSING — State Rep. Jewell Jones (D-Inkster) spoke today to a gathering of about 185 students at Ypsilanti’s AC Tech High School Tuesday to encourage the students to keep working hard and reach for their dreams. The students, in the 9th through 12th grade, all earned a 3.0 grade-point average or higher in the past quarter.
“When you’re a young person, people are always telling you that your whole future is ahead of you, and that you have so many things that you can choose to do with it. But sometimes, all that potential can be intimidating — especially if a young person isn’t sure what they want to do with all of their talent and ability,” Rep. Jones said. “My message today was that it helps to have goals. Goals motivate you to keep moving forward, rather than feeling overwhelmed and getting stuck. And I also encouraged them to reach out to family, teachers and others who care about them for advice, reassurance and inspiration, because all of us need help sometimes.”
AC Tech is a small learning community within the Ypsilanti Community High School that provides individualized instruction based on the arts, humanities and logistics.
“As the youngest person to ever be elected to the state Legislature, I’m passionate about seeing our state’s young people thrive,” Rep. Jones said. “I’ll do what it takes to set them up for achievement, from working to make sure their schools are fully funded and prepared to teach them to offering them some encouraging words. We’re building a better future for everyone in our state, and that starts by making sure the next generation of Michiganders gets plenty of opportunities to succeed.”