As the 2017-2018 school settles in, the students of Delmar’s Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) class have already begun to show off their prior knowledge as well as take in new information. During the first week of class, the students began the Delaware Career Association (DCA) Orientation in which they soak in information about the organization that they will dedicate their time, talents, and energies to for the rest of the school year.

Many of the students are veterans of both JDG and DCA, meaning that they have been exposed to the components of the organization, but this is not true for all students. In the Junior JDG class, for example, there is one student who was new to the worlds of JDG and DCA. After labeling a blank version of the DCA emblem individually, the class separated into small groups in order to finish the job. The groups worked together, exchanging ideas and thoughts with one another as the synergism that had once burned brightly amongst the students was rekindled. One group even took the initiative to help the new student—not by giving him the answers, but by explaining the significance of each symbol thoroughly.

When each group came to a consensus, it was finally time for the students to show off both prior and newfound knowledge as they were called up to the board one-by-one. Two students worked together to recreate the emblem in dry-erase form, displaying their familiarity with the symbolic image; then, eight students—one for each representation—came up to the board to label each piece.

As the labeling came to an end, there was one realization that settled upon the JDG 11th grade class: the emblem was not complete until each individual piece had fallen into place in the same way that this group of students was not complete until each student shared his or her ideas. The emblem as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts, just like the Delmar JDG and DCA students.

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Student Leader, Grade 11 | Delmar High School, DCA Chapter Vice President