The Wagner Community School’s current seniors were asked to attend a post-graduation planning and training program sponsored by the Wagner Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, November 29th. The event was planned and put together by Dana Sanderson with the help of the Wagner Chamber of Commerce and the Yankton Sioux Tribe.

The goal of this annual event is to share enough information to help the students and adults in attendance have a better understanding of the opportunities that are available to them. This should help anyone interested to know who to connect with after the event if there are any questions. The program planners hope that this program will provide encouragement and support for students to further their education at a technical school or college and then consider bringing back that training home to the Wagner area. The hopes of this program are that the Wagner and surrounding communities will have these young people want to come back to the area and bring with them new ideas and businesses to help the local communities grow and thrive.

The program opened with Dana Sanderson giving basic instructions for the attendees. Then Chamber of Commerce President, Patti Frei, followed by Wagner Mayor Tammy Thorton, and Yankton Sioux Tribe Chairman, Robert Flying- Hawk, gave the event welcomes. A familiar face to the WCS students, Wagner School Counselor, Jen Lhotak gave the students some advice about how to get the most out of the program. Jen encouraged students to make informed decisions about their future and to research and job shadow to see if careers of interest really would be something that a student would be interested in.

Other speakers at the event included Mitchell Technical College about the Build Dakota Scholarship Program; Ally Thompson from Commercial State Bank spoke about the value of education and training; Stewart Bass, the WCS resource officer spoke about law enforcement; Current Solutions also spoke on the Build Dakota Partner; the new director of Indian Health, Jody Kirke, spoke about opportunities at IHS; the South Dakota Department of Labor; Jeff Doom from Wagner Building Supply spoke about the program and how WBS is a Build Dakota Partner; WCS School Superintendent, Matt Yost, spoke about community needs; and Derrick Marks spoke on the value of education and training.

The program closed with Wagner Area Growth Director, Margaret Doom, and Dana Sanderson giving closing statements and final comments.

This annual program began with the Wagner Chamber of Commerce wanting to help students further their education in order to get a good education and training to be competitive and successful in the job market. This year the Chamber of Commerce and the Yankton Sioux Tribe (YST) worked together to help encourage WCS students to get career training and then if they so choose come back to the Wagner area and make the community a better place. The South Dakota Build Dakota Scholarship Program is just one of many ways to get training. The YST has been working with retired WCS School Counselor, Dana Sanderson to develop the Yankton Sioux Tribe and Build Dakota Partnership Scholarship to encourage and help pay for students who attend one of the technical colleges in the area. The scholarship includes tuition, books, tools and fees. There is also a second type of scholarship known as the Wagner Area and Build Dakota Partnership Scholarship. These scholarships are open to non-traditional students as well. Deadline is in early January so please contact Dana Sanderson, YST or the Wagner Chamber of Commerce with any questions or for an application.