Students from Anaconda Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center’s (JCCCC) multicultural awareness committee are eager to hand over the hundreds of dollars they raised to the American Cancer Society.  The donations made by students and staff, totaling over $200, will go toward breast cancer research and treatment.

Anaconda JCCCC, which lies in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest of southwest Montana, offers its student body various opportunities to be an active member of a community, achieving leadership skills through a variety of committees—such as multicultural awareness—that require student management and ownership of associated duties and responsibilities within each.

Anaconda JCCCC’s multicultural awareness committee is made up of ten students that work together to plan and carry out activities that promote and celebrate the differences in culture, ethnicity, and gender that prominently occur within its student population.  Committee leaders organized the fundraiser to coincide with the students’ biweekly pay days during Women’s History Month of March, which easily facilitated making a small donation in exchange for a pink bracelet.  One of four following qualities—Faith, Hope, Strength, Survivor—was printed on each wristlet to increase breast cancer awareness and education.

“All of us have family members or friends that have been affected by this terrible disease,” says Roxanne Rodriguez-Hernandez, committee secretary. “We wanted to put this fundraiser together because we know the money, even if just a little bit, is going toward something that each of us feels is important, particularly for the women that we love.”

Though each student committee at Anaconda JCCCC is overseen by one or more staff members, the activities are planned, promoted, and executed by the students, for the students. 

The USDA Forest Service operates 28 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers across 18 states with a capacity of 6,200 students. For more information, you can visit: http://recruiting.jobcorps.gov/en/home.aspx.

The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to State and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.

Front Row, L to R:  Roxanne Rodriguez-Hernandez, committee secretary; Monika Hubbard; Travis Waslaski; Larie Thompson

Back Row, L to R:  Vlad Kovtonyuk; Leon Kendrick Jr., committee treasurer; Nicholas Bodeen, committee vice president; Jeremiah Iron Road, committee president; Jaycee Hill, committee sergeant at arms

Not Pictured: Joe Dilio, committee projects chairperson and the three committee staff advisors, Derek Goodwin, Art Villasenor, and Cheryl McNeil