Small-school attention makes a difference at Jackson-Milton

Jackson-Milton graduation class boasts 79 members

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

LAKE MILTON

Erica Hughes could have attended a number of colleges that were offering her scholarships, but she chose the small, Christian, Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., because it seemed a lot like attending Jackson-Milton schools.

“It’s a small school, so we have teachers who care about what you do. They always want to help and support you in everything you do,” she said of Jackson-Milton.

Hughes, who was a top volleyball player at Jackson-Milton and will continue her volleyball career at Geneva, was one of six valedictorians and one salutatorian who spoke at Friday’s commencement at the high school. There were 79 graduates.

Hughes plans to major in bio-psychology, which is like having a double-major and will be good preparation for getting her master’s degree in occupational therapy, she said.

She got interested in the medical field through her two years of volunteering at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley in Boardman, where she read to children a lot and realized she liked being in a hospital setting.

Nicole Fox, mother of graduate Jessica Gura, said she and her husband, Daniel Tickerhoof, decided to use open enrollment to send their kids to Jackson-Milton because they both attended the school and like the values and attitudes they found there.

“It’s the small environment, the individual attention. The teachers take an interest. That’s rare,” she said.

Another valedictorian, Robert Voland, will be attending Youngstown State University in the fall to major in chemistry, a field he realized he enjoyed during his junior year at Jackson-Milton. Eventually he wants to become a pharmacist.

“Since I’ve been young, I’ve always done well in the sciences. I always liked knowing how things worked. I did extremely well at it, and I realized it was something I wanted to do the rest of my life,” he said of science.

Cody Mezzatesto says he’s always been “kind of a tech nerd,” so he’s decided to study interactive multi-media at ITT Tech, so he can program computer software, games and cellphone applications. He got some exposure to it by taking classes in high school, he said.

Nathan Hinkle, who studied aviation maintenance at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, will need one more year at MCCTC after high school to earn his air frame and power plant license so he can work in the aviation-maintenance field.