Muhlenberg Job Corps in Greenville, KY hosted it’s an annual semi-formal event for its young men here Friday, January 18, 2019 called Men-in-Black. The event focuses on the young men here at MJCC and is designed to assist them in making better decisions and changing bad habits into good ones in order to close the gap on a successful life after they leave Muhlenberg Job Corps.

The event began with the young men being ushered to their tables, which were decorated by the Student Government Association (SGA), one at a time. The young men then enjoyed a catered meal, compliments of a wonderful local restaurant “IDK”.

As the young men ate and fellowshipped, the SGA staff walked around and began looking for the 3 young men who they felt were among the ‘Best Dressed’ in attendance. Those 3 men were brought up later and would be voted on to determine the winner of “Best Dressed.” The winners were announced after the meal and prizes were given out.

Then it was time for the guest speaker Steve Tressler to take the floor. Steve Tressler is many things but most proud of being the husband to his wife of 12 years Lindsay, and a father to their 3 children, Kenadee, Trey and Max.  Steve is also a 23-year veteran of the armed forces and currently serves the Commonwealth as a Registered Apprenticeship Coordinator for the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet of Kentucky. He began his talk with the powerful benefits of Registered Apprenticeships and what they could do to transform the economy but more importantly as a means to push young men and women into the middle class and higher in our Commonwealth. He then transitioned to soft skills and what businesses were truly looking for in today’s youth and reinforced everything that our instructors tell our young men and women here every day.

He reminded the young men, “Don’t let your inner me, become your enemy.”  Steve, who admittedly, came from a less than perfect background, said he had let his inner me become his enemy many times and didn’t pay off for him.

He then reminded them, as they grow, a real man will treat the lowest person out there with the same dignity that they would treat someone who appears to have made it in life. He reminded them that you become a ‘real’ man when you do the ‘right thing’ even when you think no one is watching.

In the picture below, there is a reason everyone, including myself, was pointing at Steve after he brought his powerful message here to our students. It’s because we were all grateful.

The young men of Job Corps have a little fun with their guest speaker for the annual Men-In-Black event, Steve Tressler. Steve is a retired military veteran and serves the Commonwealth as part of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet of Kentucky. Photo provided by MJCC.

Everyone’s favorite section of Steve’s talk was the “time to balance life,” which came towards the end of the event. Steve asked the young men, “Who in the crowd thinks they are THE man, with all the swag?”  Ronald Riddick was just that guy, or so he thought. Steve then asked him to come up front for a live demonstration, most of the students were on the edge of their seats, yelling support for Ronald. Steve asked him to balance the balloon in the air and don’t let it hit the floor, then he tossed it up. The balloon was called “Ronald’s new job” and Ronald agreed it was easy to balance, as he popped it up in the air and kept it floating. Steve was quick to bounce another balloon in Ronald’s direction labeled, “his new house payment” and then another balloon labeled, “his new relationship.”  Ronald found himself working extremely hard to balance this many balloons and this was before the “children” and “family vacation” balloons came out.

The entire room understood Steve’s point as the balloons were bouncing around on the floor. It reminded the students of the most important thing of all. Something we tell them as a staff at every turn. You can do anything you set your mind to, and you don’t have to do it alone, we are here to help you do it.

Then the young men were reminded to be thankful for the incredible opportunity that MJCC is offering to them and that this is their chance to rise above their past. He reminded them that they are already on their way because they made it this far. Did his message resonate with our young men here?  Well, after he spoke he received hundreds of hugs, handshakes and thank you’s from our young men here and they were all smiles doing it, and so was Steve.