Forbes.com writer Susan Adams compiled a list in March 2013 of the best places for recent graduates to move to after college, which included cities such as Atlanta, St. Louis and Boston. It came as no surprise that Jackson was not included on that list. What makes a recent graduate want to stay in Jackson?
When class of 2012 graduate Anna Avery from Dickson, Tennessee considered life after college, she could not imagine living anywhere other than the city of her alma mater.
Avery considered the factors that went into her decision to move or stay in Jackson, and she decided that she was not done with the city she had called home for four years.
“I feel like the reason I’ve stayed in Jackson has kept changing,” Avery said, but when determining the main reason, it focused on the Jackson community.
With a list of mentors and close friends that have made up a strong support system in Jackson, it came as no surprise that Avery would want to stay.
“I have such good relationships here, I wouldn’t want to leave,” Avery said. “Different people at Union really took me into their lives.”
Avery graduated from Union with a degree in elementary education learning foundations with an emphasis in math.
The School of Education describes the learning foundations major as “an interdisciplinary major that supports the varied content areas taught in PreK-6 classrooms.”
This degree has allowed Avery to teach a variety of subjects at various local schools. In August 2014, she started her first year teaching kindergarten at Jackson Careers and Technology Elementary School.
Avery has had no difficulties finding a job in Jackson. “Union teachers are good teachers,” Avery said. “It is easier to get a job with the Union name.”
In the future, Avery plans to get her masters in Social Work.
“I think that being a school social worker or guidance counselor at a school is something I would like to do,” said Avery.
Bigger cities like Boston or New York may be in her future, but for now she “feels like Jackson is home.”
