High school sophomores got the chance to talk with local veterinarians, morticians, police officers and more at an event this week. 

St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Programs Coordinator Mary Brown said the My Success Event organized by the Chamber and presented by Boehringer Ingelheim featured 65 area businesses this year.   

“The My Success event is a hands-on career laboratory for high school sophomore students,” Brown said. “We showcase the careers that are available, not just in St. Joseph, but in the northwest Missouri area, the businesses where they can find those careers and the educational requirements necessary for those careers.” 

Some of the “hands-on” opportunities included the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service display. Dr. Nada Woodworth works for the USDA and said their tables at the event included displays of animal organs that, with gloves on, students could touch. 

“I am a veterinarian and I have two inspectors who come with me and we explain to the kids that the meat that they eat is safe,” Woodworth said. “So we bring samples of normal body parts, the normal cow, the normal pig, normal sheep and normal chicken and then we have, at the last table, the abnormal and we show them examples of things that would not go into the food chain.” 

Woodworth said they also talk with the students and give them information about careers available in food safety, including food inspectors, veterinarians, enforcement investigative officers and more. Woodworth has been a part of the event for 10 of the 11 years it’s been offered. 

“The event is just so awesome from the standpoint of exposing the kids to what is available out there as far as the different jobs, the different career opportunities that are there,” Woodworth said. “I’m almost 60-years-old and I didn’t get to do something like this when I was in high school and I wish somebody would’ve thought of this back then. For them to be exposed to all the different opportunities that are there is just wonderful.” 

Destiny, a sophomore at Benton High School, said the event is interesting, fun and introduces them to the options available. 

“We took an online test and it determined which category we went into like human services or technical stuff like that and based on that, we go to different booths that would lead to careers in that pathway,” Destiny said. “We’ve been to a bunch of (displays), it’s a bunch of great opportunities and it’s really interesting learning about everything.” 

Mary Brown with the Chamber said 2,500 students came through the event this year from 49 high schools in the area. 

“It’s a lot of work to put this event on, but it’s so worthwhile,” Brown said. “It exposes these kids to so many great opportunities. They are our future workforce.”

Senator Roy Blunt was in St. Joseph Thursday morning to discuss mental and behavioral health efforts as part of a statewide pilot program.

Blunt spoke at the Family Guidance Center during a press conference as part of a tour of Missouri to talk about the Excellence in Mental Health Act which he co-sponsored with Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. It was signed into law in 2014 and through it, pilot programs were established in eight states to expand access to community mental health services and more. 

Missouri is one of the eight pilot states chosen and Blunt is visiting the agencies in the state to see how the Act is being implemented.

“It’s great to see Missouri in the lead in this, it’s great to see right here in this facility a 107 year tradition of understanding that behavioral health problems need to be dealt with like all other health problems,” Blunt said. “So we’ve got a couple of years here to really create a record that shows the other 42 states how you really do this and how it matters.”

Amy Spaeth is the Vice President of Finance at the Family Guidance Center in St. Joseph. Spaeth said the pilot program started in July and things are going well so far. 

“We’ve added some new services which has been very exciting, we’ve been able to do some things that we haven’t been able to do before because it’s kind of a change in how we do business,” Spaeth said. “We’ve been able to add some services for kids with substance use disorders, we’ve been able to add some peer support specialists for adults with substance use disorders.” 

Spaeth said, with the program, there’s also been some changes with reimbursement methodology which could allow them to increase their workforce.

“One of the things we struggle with, and as a nation we struggle with, is a shortage of mental health professionals,” Spaeth said. “So hopefully by being able to pay a more competitive wage we’ll be able to decrease that shortage.” 

Blunt recently introduced legislation that would extend the time of the Excellence in Mental Health pilot program for states currently participating.

“I think what we’re going to see… is that actually you spend less money on health overall if you deal with behavioral health problems like all other health problems,” Blunt said. “We need to establish a culture here of no wrong door. Whatever healthcare door you open, leads you to health care solutions for all the problems you face, not just the physical health problems you face.”

One person was injured in a shooting in downtown St. Joseph Sunday night.

According to the St. Joseph Police Department, a call came in at 10:14 p.m. reporting three shots fired in the area of the 900 block of Angelique Street. Officers arrived to find a 20-year-old woman who had been shot three times. Officers reported that she was awake and stable and was transported to Mosaic Life Care for treatment of what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries.

Police do not have any suspects at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

A shopping event Wednesday evening in Savannah will feature local artists, makeup, home decor, tacos and more.

Kim McKean is a co-owner of Ivy Cottage on the Square in Savannah and an organizer of the Girls Night Out on the Square event. McKean said the event is their way to pay back customers and clients who have home-based businesses and give them the opportunity network and let others know about what they do. This is the fifth year of Girls Night Out and more than 80 home-based businesses will be there.

“We have just about anything you can possibly think about that you’re interested in. We have makeup, we have diet supplements, we have home decor, we have plants, we have a few fundraisers like the FCCLA from the school or some of the dance studios that do fundraisers for trips and for shows,” McKean said. “We have Pepos Taco Truck coming up if they want to have something to eat while they’re up here or we have restaurants here on the Square that they can stop by after they shop. Basically, Savannah’s always been a town where you can come and just chat with everybody you know and have fun.”

Host businesses include The Ivy Cottage, Urban Daisy, The Studio, Andrew County Mutual, Landers, Savage Country Donuts, Miss Doyle’s, Creations, Sports Page, and Salon on the Square. Since the number of vendors has increased, vendor spaces will also be included on the Courthouse Lawn.

Host businesses will display a decorated bicycle to show they are open.

Girls Night out on the Square takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. For more information, contact Kim at (816) 324-5228.

The St. Joseph Public Library is participating in a campaign to get “Outside the Lines” this week. 

Director of the St. Joseph Public Library Mary Beth Revels said “Outside the Lines” is a weeklong celebration.

“It’s just a fun public relations campaign for libraries all over the world to do something different in their communities,” Revels said. “We take books to different locations throughout the community. All of the books have labels on them saying, ‘Hey, these are from the library. Come visit us at the library and get more books,’ and they also include bookmarks that tell people all about the services that are offered at the library.”

Revels said they will be leaving the books at about 35 locations this week including doctor’s offices, restaurants, gyms, senior centers and more.

“These are books that have been donated to us and we are re-sharing them,” Revels said. “It’s just a great way to say, ‘Hey, remember the library? If you haven’t been there for awhile, come see us.’”

The “Outside the Lines” campaign runs September 10-16. For more information on the St. Joseph Public Library, branch locations and activities this week, click here.

The St. Joseph School District is inviting area residents to a presentation later this month on safeguarding youth against suicide. 

Kim Hill is the Counseling Coordinator for the School District. Hill said, according to a recent statistic, suicide moved up to the second leading cause of death for 10 to 25 year-olds. Hill said she thinks the presentation will be important for not only parents, but all community members to attend. 

“Last year, and the last two to three years, we’ve had several deaths of students by suicide as well as by violence, so I think our community is kind of on hyper alert about that and that’s a good thing, because it generates the conversation about then, how can we as a community safeguard our children, what can we, as a community, do to prevent suicide of our youth,” Hill said. “Also, there are other issues facing our teens and our children and so it just really brings a greater awareness to some of those risks that are out there and what we can do about it.”

The presentation will feature Dr. Scott Poland who is a nationally recognized expert on school crisis, youth violence, suicide intervention, school safety and more. A local expert, Dr. Jackie Kibler will also be a part of the presentation. Dr. Kibler has studied suicide prevention and crisis response for over 15 years. Kibler currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at Northwest Missouri State University. 

Hill said one of the main goals of the presentation is to help parents and the community understand how to build resiliency and coping skills in youth.

“I think that this is going to be a great presentation and probably could be one of the most important presentations a parent could attend right now in terms of concern for their child’s resiliency and safeguarding their child, but also for the other students that their child goes to school with and is friends with,” Hill said. 

Hill said the presentation is being put on because of grant money through a Project SERV grant.

The presentation is entitled, “Parenting in Challenging Times: How to Recognize Risk, Build Resiliency and Create Safeguards for Our Kids Against Suicide.” 

It will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, at Wellspring Community Church at 2101 Jules Street in St. Joseph.