‘I don’t do it for the glory, I do it for the kids.‘ Weequahic H.S.’s beloved ‘grandma’ earns national award. - NJ.com

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When Elizabeth Clark walks around the halls of Weequahic High School, there’s an aura that radiates from her.

She always wants the best for those that mean the most to her and inside those walls, that means all of the kids that walk through her door.

That door is always open, never closed, to a student that wants to talk about life, school, the future or one just looking for a hello and a quick morning snack.

In return, the students affectionately call her “Grandma.”

“Years ago, I started as the mother,” she joked.

Clark has been a Jobs for America’s Graduates program specialist in the Newark public school system for nine years, including the last five at Weequahic.

JAG is a national non-profit, state-based organization devoted to helping and supporting young people facing challenges reach economic and academic success.

In some circumstances, a JAG specialist can be the most consistently present adult in a student’s life.

Clark guides an average of 42 students through the program across three classes a day and has touched the lives of over 600 students between her time at Weequahic and Barringer high schools.

When not teaching a class, she’s busy setting up guest speakers, doing administrative work, finding marketing opportunities or coaching the school’s girls basketball team.

Her outreach and support don’t stop upon graduation either. From that point, her outgoing students enter a follow-up period.

“I still have you for another twelve months,” she said. “Our students have to make contact with me a minimum of one time a month. Sometimes I talk to my former students two, three times a week.”

Some of those program alums even make a return as guest lecturers, piquing the interest of current groups and giving them a chance to start seriously pondering their own futures.

“The lightbulb comes on,” Clark said. “Students gravitate to students they can relate to.”

One of the program’s requirements is for its seniors to research scholarship opportunities.

The result was roughly $1.9 million total awarded in scholarships to JAG’s classes of 2018 and 2019.

Another powerful experience select students undergo is a trip to Washington D.C. to attend a National Student Leadership Academy - typically each November or December - with other students from around the country with similar barriers.

“Some of these kids have never been out of the inner city, nor have they been a part of a four- or five-star hotel,” she said. “It blows their mind.”

The kids that come back become completely different students.

With a business management degree from Kean University under her belt, as well as a masters in teaching, Clark has also been able to build corporate connections to further help her kids.

Prudential, for example, provides a grant that helps select students take a college course for credit while at Weequahic High School.

Her partnerships with Newark One Stop, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, AT&T and McDonald’s pave the way for job skill training activities, career assessments, hiring, job shadow tips and much more.

As a result, Clark has been named JAG NJ’s Specialist of the Year for seven consecutive years and Teacher of the Year for Weequahic twice (2018, 2020). She’s also been named JAG National High Performer in 2016 and 2017 and JAG National 5 of 5 Award for student outcomes in the classes of 2018 and 2019.

“I don’t do it for the glory, I do it for the kids,” Clark said. “It just comes natural. My background is special education and I’ve always wanted to do a transition program for that population. When I got an opportunity to be part of JAG and reach not just special needs but general I jumped at it.”

To prove her point, she’s even gone the extra mile to help a student pay for a set of black shirts, pants and sneakers so she could work at a local Wendy’s.

There simply isn’t a person that eats, sleeps and drinks JAG the way Clark does, which is why her other nickname of “Ms. JAG” fits so perfectly.

Those seniors that are graduating will still have 12 months of her guidance left, although she definitely won’t stop caring for them after that.

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Brian Bobal may be reached at bbobal@njadvancemedia.com.

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‘I don’t do it for the glory, I do it for the kids.‘ Weequahic H.S.’s beloved ‘grandma’ earns national award. - NJ.com
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