Staff Interview: Nicole Argirakis
02/16/2024
Generally, our blog interviews cover the great work getting done by our Career Specialists. However, our staff covers much more than in-school and out-of-school specialists now. We have a business engagement team, a documentation team, those working in juvenile justice, and more! One of the hard workers that we want to highlight is none other than Nicole Argirakis from our documentation team.
Nicole joined JOG as a Career Specialist after enjoying her time as a JOG student, saying, “When I went to high school at Cloverleaf, I was a part of JOG, and it was super fun. We were able to learn a lot at school and in projects outside of class. Overall, I had a really good experience.” As her life went on after high school, she achieved her master’s degree in social work at The Ohio State University and when she was trying to figure out what to do with her degree, she reached out to an old friend, her old Career Specialist. While discussing her ideas of what she wanted to do with her future, her specialist said she could come work for JOG! Nicole loved this idea and was welcomed back to JOG.
Her first job while being back was taking over as an interim specialist at Medina High School while the regular specialist was out. She was able to get her footing over those first few months and start helping students through mentorship and career guidance. When the time came for the original specialist to return, she went to Brunswick High School full-time. After working at Brunswick for several years, she was recruited to take over as the head of operations in Medina County as their County Team Lead. In her latest move within the company, she lastly shifted to a role in the then newly formed documentation team.
This new role has given Nicole more opportunities to work in data and paper trails, which she enjoys doing. As she explains, “We get to make sure that everyone is represented accurately. Whether that is through filling out new paperwork or double checking already submitted work. Honestly, I love working with paperwork! I get to see people through their paperwork. We see all these barriers stacked up against students and see those barriers go away during their journey with JOG. Whenever someone accomplishes something like a work experience or achieving their GED, I get to see that and put it in the system! I love showing off the great work we do at JOG through our outcomes!”
We are always happy to see how far our JOG students go in their lives, and it is especially great to see them achieve such heights when joining JOG as a staff member. Nicole has been able to accomplish so much in her 10 years with JOG and we are looking forward to her future successes!