Amy Jurgens knows a thing or two about starting over. As director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Southeast Community College, she teaches people how they can take an idea and turn it into a business. That’s what brought her to teaching students in the UPWARD program.
“I remember getting an email from Amy Doty asking for faculty members who were interested in this new program,” Jurgens said. “The classes took place in a carceral setting, and I just thought I would give it a shot.”
Jurgens’ first class she taught in the program was at the work release center, which was also her first time teaching that class in person. She was nervous about transitioning the class from an online format to in-person, as she wanted to make sure to provide her students with the best education possible.
“It was great for me to have this as my first experience because these are students who are just one step away from re-entry into their community,” said Jurgens. “So, I felt a real responsibility to teach them all I could about entrepreneurship, so when they were released into their community, they could start their own business if they wanted to.”
Trust is one of the most important parts of the job for Jurgens. She knows that some of these students have traumas she doesn’t understand. For her, building trust with the students means showing them she is there to provide a safe place for them to learn and express their ideas freely.
The impact is noticeable. Jurgens once had a student that would often be late to class and would always sit in the back. Then, two weeks into class, he began sitting at the front of the room, and he never stopped asking questions.
“That’s trust,” Jurgens said. “He had to understand if he could trust me in that setting, and when he figured that out, he was open to the material I was teaching.”
Jurgens has had students tell her about the impact they see in their lives and their fellow students. Students that didn’t have great outlooks when they started the program were beginning to show signs of hope as they took more classes.
“I’ve always believed education can change your life,” Jurgens said. “I think we all, as educators, believe that. In this area, you see it firsthand. It doesn’t take years to see it; it takes a semester to see it. We’re not about instant gratification as educators, but you can immediately see the impact you have on a student just by showing up and teaching them.”
This content is sourced from
Southeast Community College
. It reflects the author's views and has not been edited by our newsroom. It may have been generated using AI assistance.
