CALUMET CITY | In spring 2005, Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 set its sights on 69 juniors who were at risk of not graduating in 2006.

With the help of the Jobs for Illinois Graduates program, 57 of those students graduated last June. By November 2006, 10 of the remaining 12 had earned their high school diplomas and the other two were working toward theirs.

Around 90 percent of the 69 students are either enrolled in college or employed now, said Lisa Bouler Daniels, an English teacher and a career specialist for the program at Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing.

This year, District 215 targeted 41 students each at TF South and Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City, Bouler Daniels said.

Participants in the Jobs for Illinois Graduates are students who have enough hours as juniors to graduate as seniors but are at risk of not graduating, she said.

"They might have some barriers that are related to family issues, teen pregnancy, parents who are not high school graduates -- anything that would not encourage them or keep them motivated to graduate from high school," Bouler Daniels said.

The jobs program, which is publicly and privately funded, teaches students "employability skills" and practical life skills, she said.

Students hear a wide range of guest speakers that introduce them to a variety of careers and leadership skills, Bouler Daniels said.

"Most of these students have never been involved in a club or had a leadership role," she said. "This really teaches them what that all entails."

Once students graduate high school, Bouler Daniels and TF North's career specialist, Michelle Koppitz, contact them once a month for a year.

"We make sure they're making progress," Bouler Daniels said.

TF South's program has become renowned for its success. Its accomplishments include graduating a Hurricane Katrina evacuee who recently returned to New Orleans.

In each of the last two years, TF South has sent a student in the jobs program to the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Jobs for America's Graduates.

In 2006, Tashuana Christian, of Lynwood, now a freshman at Southern Illinois University, was a keynote speaker at the event. This year Tara Lietz, of Lansing, was one of four students -- from more than 2,400 in the Illinois program -- chosen to attend.

"It's an awesome opportunity," Bouler Daniels said. "They meet people as far away as Arizona. They meet the program's corporate sponsors, legislators and staff. For our district and Lansing to be represented two years in a row is just outstanding."