Elizabeth Daly’s family roots are in Dublin, Ireland. She is the first generation of her family born and raised in the United States. Being raised by Irish parents, she speaks with a very faint Irish accent, a trait she said amuses her Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG) students.
   “Sometimes I have a real hard time with vowels,” she said. “The kids crack up.”
   Daly is the instructor for Sanford High School’s JMG program, but according to her card, her official title is
“JMG Specialist.”
    JMG is a non-profit organization and its vision is to be “a champion for all Maine students who face barriers to education, and to guide each one on to a successful path toward continued education, a meaningful career and productive adulthood.”
   Under her guidance, students are taught the skills necessary to secure and hold a job. They learn to write a resume, dress appropriately for a job interview and how to tender a resignation from a job, as well as how to work as a team, commit to a task, follow directions, prioritize, manage time and trust their peers.
   The walls of her classroom are plastered with handwritten posters and large notes outlining ideas, goals and positive messages. Large handwritten posters listing “competencies” are even attached to the ceiling.
   Although the classroom is located on the grounds of Sanford High School, she said the school is not her employer– she is employed by JMG.
   Her path to the JMG classroom was paved by a promise she made to herself several years ago.
   She began teaching English at the age of 30, but said she vowed that when she attained “professional” teacher status, she would go to Europe.
   One day she typed the words “London, England teacher” on a search engine on the Internet. The search returned results for a teaching position in England.
   The principal from the school in England flew to the United States to interview 40 candidates in Chicago, Ill., Toronto, Canada, and Boston, Mass.
   Daly drove to Boston for the interview and landed the job. Soon after, she moved to England and began teaching at Ashburton Community School, a secondary school that was labeled in a local newspaper as one of Britain’s 18 worst schools. Not only did she teach English and comparative religion, she served as the head of the civics department.
   Daly said it was an inner city school where gang leaders and members attended class.
   She said secondary schools in England are geared toward students ages 11 to 16.
   “In the United States, that would translate to sixth through 10th grades,” she said.
   In England, by the time students are 16-years-old, they attend vocational or trade schools, she said.
   She also said the socialized government runs the schools in England and subjected to inspection by government inspectors, Her Majesty’s Inspectors, who can show up any time, without notice, to access a school’s performance.
    “If the school isn’t up to par, they shut you down,” she said.
   She said when Her Majesty’s Inspectors came to her classroom to assess her class, a physical fight broke out between two students. She held them off one another, standing between them with her arms outstretched and continued to teach.
   The inspectors rated her performance as “average,” although she continued to teach through a physical fight and a verbal argument between two other students.
   The unexpected death of her brother, Michael, beckoned her back to the states around Christmas 2005. She said leaving England was one of the most difficult things she’s had to do.
   She said the regulations governing how much luggage a person can take on a flight had just changed, forcing her to leave many of her belongings behind.
  “After three-and-a-half years over there, I came home with only three suitcases and two pictures to hang on the wall,” she said.
   But, her lack of possessions didn’t deter her from starting over again. She immediately began looking for another job. She said she interviewed with a textbook company, as well as other teaching jobs. Saco Middle School hired her as a full time substitute, but ultimately it was JMG that captured her heart.
   “I don’t want to climb the ladder. I don’t want to be a department head or a principal. I like my trenches,” she joked.
   She said one of the things she likes about the JMG program is that the students in her class want to be there.
   “It’s an elective class,” she said.
   She said three criteria for the class is need, want and benefit.
  “They have to need the class, they have to want it and they have to benefit from the class,” she said.
  She said she gets to choose which students will participate in the JMG class.
   The students must fill out an application and Daly conducts short interviews with the applicants.
   She said she bases much of her decision on the student’s attitude.
   “I can tell when they walk in the door if they really want to be here,” she said.
   She is very close to all her students.
   “They all have my cell phone number,” she said.
   She said they aren’t shy about calling her, either with a problem or for no reason at all.
   “It’s really rewarding when they call just to say ‘hey,’” she said.
   The students participate in skill-building activities such as hosting a Halloween party for kindergarteners at Margaret Chase Smith Elementary School and, most recently, organizing a pancake fundraiser with the Lions Club to raise money for a surgery for Sanford resident Ricky Arsenault.
   The JMG students also spend much of their time raising money for field trips to Husson College in Bangor and to the ropes course with the National Guard.
   She said the field days help boost their confidence and test their leadership abilities and skills that will be necessary in the job market.
   Daly said the JMG program requires about $2,000 per year for transportation because it is not provided through the school.
   The students recently raised $524, but the money was stolen a couple of weeks ago.
   Daly said she suspects it was one of her own students who stole the money.
   “The JMG students are the only ones who knew where the money was kept,” she said.
   She said the theft has her and her class feeling betrayed.
   “Someone is lying,” she said.
   But, Daly, isn’t one to let the setback stand in the way of helping her class forge ahead.
   “We will just have to work on the trust-building again,” she said.
   The class has also lined up fundraisers. Daly said one of the fundraisers will be at Smitty’s Theater in Sanford Feb. 14.
   “We will be passing out colored cards,” she said. “If at least 100 people with those cards go to the movies that day, we get 50 percent of the ticket sales.”
   The class is also working to host a comedy show at The Gold Room in South Portland, although they details have yet to be worked out.
   Daly said because JMG is non-profit, they accept donations. She said anyone wishing to donate can send donations to JMG c/o Sanford High School, 52 Sanford High School Blvd., Sanford, ME 04073. For more information about JMG, visit jmg.org
   To contact Renee Worthing, call 282-4337 ext. 240 or email news@intheregister.com