The best way to learn more about what the students of Job Corps around the country need is to talk to them.

So that’s exactly what Rachel Torres, director of the Job Corps program, is going to be doing in a town hall meeting, where she will speak directly with Job Corps students from across the country and learn about their experiences – as well as take suggestions for how Job Corps can better meet their needs. And among those students, SGA peer-to-peer specialist Matthew Douglas will be representing Whitney M. Young Jr. Job Corps Center.

Douglas said he felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement about the meeting.

“She’s the head of all the Job Corps around the United States,” Douglas said.

Luckily, it’s not the first time he’s met Torres. He originally talked to her at the SGA Leadership camp in Virginia last fall.

“She seemed like a really nice woman,” Douglas said. “She’s really easygoing. She’ll talk to you, tell you about her past, how she got up to her position now. That inspired me…to be a leader.”

A big part of the purpose of the town halls is to help improve Job Corps’ services – this time with a focus on keeping students in the program. Douglas has already asked other students about what changes they’d like to see as well as come up with a few ideas of his own.

In particular, he wanted to focus on expanding the amount of dormitory space and adding more recreational activities.

“People these days, they don’t want to the same thing. They get really bored easily,” he said. “I’m trying to see if they can make some changes around here and see if people can have fun on-campus on weekends or weekdays.”