Leianna Sullivan was ready to be a leader when she arrived at the Joliet Job Corps Center.

As she trained in the Security/MILCAP program and prepared to enlist in the U.S. Army, she also guided her classmates.

She served as Chief Justice of the Student Government Association, assisted her fellow students in a mentoring program and earned the rank of corporal in the Security classroom.

So it was no surprise when she was named valedictorian of the Winter Commencement Ceremony.

During her graduation speech, Leianna said she learned many things at the Center, including the benefits of hard work.

“There is no elevator to success,” Leianna said. “You have to take the stairs.”

At the Feb. 19 graduation, 98 students graduated from the program at the Joliet Job Corps Center. Jeravon Cotton, 19, of Harvey, was the salutatorian. While at the Center, he trained as a Pharmacy Technician, was the secretary of his dorm and served as a mentor to other students.

Known as a polite and mature person who is sympathetic to others, Jeravon will join the U.S. Navy in June.

“This place brings out a part of you that you did not realize you had,” Jeravon said, speaking to his fellow graduates. “As you can see, our time wasn’t wasted here. It was invested. And look what our time has turned into.”

Will County Circuit Judge Carmen Goodman was one of the commencement speakers. She is Will County’s first African-American woman to serve on the bench.

“Someone once told me, ‘Shoot for the moon and you will fall among the stars.’ All of you are stars,” Goodman told the graduates.