One question a number of prospective students ask is, “Where do your graduates end up working.”

The answer is everywhere! Some end up working in the legislature, others for nonprofits or labor unions. Job placement following graduation is as unique as our students! Here is what one MAPL graduate is doing.

MAPL graduate Jessica Hayssen (cohort 2), currently serves as a Field Director for the Minnesota AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations). More recently, she has been collaborating with workers from the  BCTGM (Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers workers) union who have been locked out of their jobs at American Crystal Sugar Company (ACSC) since August 1, 2011. On February 22, eight locked-out workers from American Crystal Sugar and Cooper Tire began the Journey for Justice campaign. It was a six-day, six-state solidarity journey from Fargo North Dakota to Findlay, Ohio. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness, participate in solidarity rallies scheduled throughout the trip and raise money to help families of locked-out workers. Jessica has played an instrumental role in organizing the campaign and training participants to ‘speak directly from their core values’. Hayssen feels everyone has a story to share and helps them speak truth to power. A number of MAPL courses Jessica took such as Political Organizing and Communication, helped her to refine her presentation skills into the powerful, persuasive messages needed to initiate movements and promote change.  

Jessica visited Bill Moore's class, Labor Organizing, on Saturday, March 3, 2012 to discuss her work with the Minnesota AFL-CIO. She was accompanied by two ACSC workers, Dave Harney and Nathan Rahm, who shared their own stories of the lock-out.

For more information on the American Crystal Sugar Lock-Out, visit the union's lock-out Webiste, Crystal Greed.