BENTON HARBOR — It's a local school district with one of the highest dropout rates in our area. Now some Benton Harbor High School students are learning skills to better prepare them for the local work force. The program is called JAG, or Jobs for America's Graduates.

The non-profit Michigan WORKS! organization is using Benton Harbor as a test school to see if it can improve the pool of candidates in the local workforce.

Students at Benton Harbor are the faces and minds of the future.

"You have to have a focused mind, you have to be committed to your dreams," explained Benton Harbor junior Kristen Horne.

But for Horne and many teens in Benton Harbor, staying focused and committed is anything but easy.

"[I see] a lot of kids walking the streets and stuff, not coming to school," said junior JAG student Prashae Hall. "...Fights, riots, it's a lot of negative things in the community."

For graduating class of 2007, the dropout rate in Benton Harbor Public Schools was 37%. The graduation rate was 53%. Those are two of the worst rates in the state.

But the JAG program aims to change that.

"At the end of the day, this is really about meeting the needs of employers," said Michigan WORKS! Executive Director Todd Gustafson. "Get the kids to graduate, get the skills, go on to school, or get the job they want."

According to Michigan WORKS!, 90% of the jobs of the future require not only a high school diploma, but also some education beyond high school.

That's why Michigan WORKS! even has its own teacher in the JAG classroom.

"We are actually setting the precedent for the entire state of Michigan," said JAG instructor Desiree Dunomes.

If the program does well at Benton Harbor, and graduation rates rise, JAG could spread to other southwest Michigan schools. There are also some parts of the program that happen outside of the classroom setting, like career development workshops and community involvement.

A successful program shouldn't be too difficult to cultivate, especially because many of the JAG students will tell you failure isn't an option for them.

"I'm going to make it somewhere in life," Prashae Hall told WSBT.

About 65 Benton Harbor sophomore and junior JAG students were chosen to participate in the program. Both Prashae Hall and Kristen Horne said they plan to attend college, and become a lawyer and a mortician, respectively.

The JAG program is brand new in Michigan, but has been some other states since 1980. It is currently active in 28 states.