Douglas High School senior Stella Rae Bradley and Douglas High School’s JAG Specialist Susan McDonald in front of the Nevada Legislature on Tuesday.
Photo by Sarah Drinkwine.
The third year was the charm for Douglas High School senior Stella Rae Bradley, who brought home first place in the public speaking event during the Jobs for American Graduates Career and Development Conference “Tomorrow Starts Today,” in Las Vegas in April.
The conference was a significant achievement for Bradley and Douglas High School’s JAG Specialist Susan McDonald. Not only did Bradley win first place in the speech event, but it showed their hard work paid off in the JAG program over the last three years.
McDonald has been a JAG Specialist at Douglas High School for three years and Bradley is her first success story.
“I saw her potential right away, and I am so proud of how far she has come,” said McDonald. “Stella Rae will be hard to replace, but I am eager to guide my other students and help them reach their goals and potential too.”
Bradley has been participating in the Jobs for American Graduates program at Douglas High School since her Sophomore year. Since, she has overcome many obstacles she didn’t know she needed to get through.
“When I first joined JAG, the Career and Development Conference, was my first big event I’d ever done outside of sports and I was starting in public speaking, so, it was definitely outside of my comfort zone,” said Bradley.
Bradley has competed in the speech event during the conference all three years, and has not placed until this year’s April conference.
“When I won first place, it was a great feeling, to know I worked hard to earn it,” said Bradley. “It’s like when I do sports and running cross country, when I would win and knowing I worked hard to earn that, it was the same feeling of satisfaction. And I felt like I had finally did what I was meant to do, I’ve been working three years for this, and I finally got it and especially in my last year, there’s no other chance after this, so it made me feel really accomplished.”
At the April conference Bradley said she took more advantage of the networking available than she has in the past and connected with more people outside of her group and herself.
“It was just a really fun experience,” said Bradley. “Before when I went, I was really focused on myself and with the mindset that I just needed to win my event, but over this past year I was introduced to a lot of networking skills, more communication skills and it really helped me connect and network better.”
Bradley said JAG has provided many opportunities over the last three years. It helped her get through school, manage her time and complete assignments, helped her explore career paths, employment skills, and created new experiences for her.
“I got the support I needed and I became a leader,” said Bradley. “I didn’t even know I was going to be a leader, but I learned leadership skills and once I realized these new skills and experienced new things, it really shaped me and my potential and it kept getting better every year.”
After high school, Bradley plans to attend Western Nevada College to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and then continue at the University of Reno. She also plans to stay with the JAG program and take advantage of the alumni program.
“I want to be involved in that and maybe come back and give testimony that the program works,” said Bradley. “I’m talking from a student standpoint now, but imagine what I will have to say after I’ve graduated and went on the accomplish what I want to and to share my story, who knows how many I can impact then.”
For those students who come behind her, Bradley hopes to inspire them to simply, “take the hand.”
“If someone holds out a hand, take it,” said Bradley. “You never know what help will be offered and how badly you might need it, because one day that hand isn’t going to be there and you are going to wish you took it, so just take every opportunity, just try, and don’t give up.”