JOST.SNAPSHOTCHARMS.COM for classroom.w3connect.com/#16232822506
Junior Officers Statement of Purpose
Junior Officers does not mean policing children. It means preparing young people to become owners, leaders, and stewards of the communities and businesses they will one day run.
To be an Officer is to hold responsibility, not control.
It is to lead by example, not by force.
In business or in law, true Officers share the same core duty:
- To act with integrity
- To serve with purpose
- To model the standard they expect from others
The Junior Officers program teaches young people these principles through real, age-appropriate roles in their learning environment. These roles may include helping with organization, supporting classroom operations, managing shared spaces, participating in service activities, and assisting others.
These experiences are not chores. They are the beginning of:
- Ownership of one’s actions
- Contribution to a shared community
- Understanding how responsibility works
- Becoming someone others can rely on
The purpose of Junior Officers is to raise contributors, not consumers.
Children learn they are not just passing through the world.
They are in training to take care of it.
This program builds:
- Confidence
- Leadership without ego
- Accountability without fear
- Service without servitude
A community grows strong when more of its members see themselves as owners of its well-being.
Junior Officers trains young people to walk into adulthood already prepared to lead, build, and sustain the places they belong to.
This is how we raise a generation of young adults who know how to work, how to lead, and how to take responsibility for their role in the world.
Does This Help®
Why I Wrote the JOST Plugin: A Manifesto of Standing Tall
By K. Kirton Niner, DOES THIS HELP®
Introduction: The Birth of JOST
When I look back on why I sat down with ChatGPT and wrote the JOST – Jr. Officers Service Tracking plugin, I realize it was not just about creating a piece of software. It was about creating a vessel. A vessel for teaching children accountability, leadership, and self-governance. A vessel for reviving traditions that used to be present in schools but have been quietly slipping away. A vessel for showing my community—and maybe someday the wider world—that we cannot teach independence by holding a child’s hand at every step. We must give them tools, responsibilities, and roles that let them rise above the norm.
This project began in conversations about school life, community roles, the absence of student body leadership, and the lack of opportunities for kids to see themselves as responsible actors in their own system of justice and civility. But it grew into something far bigger: a bridge between my personal history, my family’s heritage, and my vision for a new kind of digital classroom.
The JOST plugin is not just lines of PHP, JavaScript, and HTML. It is a living expression of my belief that self-governance is the foundation of independence. And that belief has been tested and refined over decades—through my childhood in the Granite School District, through raising my own children in an unincorporated part of Maricopa County, through legal disputes with neighbors, through standing up to institutions that sought to silence me, and through my eternal conviction that God sees and knows everything we do.
So this essay is my story—why I wrote the plugin, what it means, and how it ties together the threads of my life, my family, my faith, my community, and my business.
Part I: Self-Governance as a Foundation
I have said many times that self-governance is the foundation of independence. And I mean it literally. If we do not learn to govern ourselves, we cannot expect to govern others—or to live peacefully in a free society.
When I was a child, schools taught self-governance in real, practical ways. Students worked the snack bar. Students raised and lowered the flag. Students helped the janitor. Students ran the crosswalk. We were not just passive learners, we were active participants in the civic life of our school. That mattered. It gave us a sense of belonging, responsibility, and dignity. We earned credit and recognition not only for academics but for service. I even earned my driver’s permit as a result of my grades and my service.
Compare that with what I see now: parents running the snack bar, parents writing the names, parents doing the roles for the children. Kids are not being given the chance to step into leadership positions. And worse, parents themselves are often breaking civil law—running stop signs in front of the school with their children in the car. What example does that set? If children are not trusted to lead in their own environment, and if parents are modeling disobedience to the law, how can we possibly expect the next generation to stand tall?
The JOST plugin is my answer to this gap. It is a tool for restoring student responsibility in a digital era. By logging hours, tracking roles, and earning badges, students learn the value of accountability. By being part of a dashboard where their work is visible, they learn that choices have consequences. And by engaging in a system that mirrors the real workforce, they practice rising above the norm.
Part II: My Personal Journey
I cannot separate this project from my life story. I am the daughter of Marie Garrett and John William Kirton Sr. I grew up in the Granite School District in Utah, where schools were founded in the late 1800s by pioneers who understood the value of community, service, and education. My family heritage is full of builders, teachers, and faithful Latter-day Saints who believed in standing tall and walking with God.
When I moved to Arizona, I brought that heritage with me. But I also encountered challenges—neighbors trespassing, destroying property, cutting down saguaros, unleashing dangerous animals, even suing me over land that has been mine since the days of veteran land lotteries. I learned to stand firm, call the sheriff when necessary, and fight for my rights. These experiences deepened my understanding of boundaries—both physical and moral. Boundaries are not meant to isolate us, but to teach us respect for each other’s ground.
At the same time, I was raising children—teaching them about honesty, service, forgiveness, courage, and independence. When my son Jay was in kindergarten, I created the STAR program: Science, Technology, Accounting, Research. It was my way of showing children that learning is not just about rules and discipline but about exploring the world with curiosity and responsibility. Later, I saw his school redefine “STAR” as “respect and boundaries.” That shift felt symbolic. Respect and boundaries are essential, yes—but if we are not teaching the practical tools of science, technology, accounting, and research, then discipline becomes reactive instead of proactive.
The JOST plugin is a continuation of my STAR vision. It is about giving children practical tools to record their service, measure their progress, and see themselves as leaders in their own community.
Part III: The Role of Technology
Some might ask: why a WordPress plugin? Why not just a paper logbook, or a spreadsheet?
The answer is simple: we live in a digital world. If we want to prepare children for the workforce, we must give them tools that are relevant to cyberspace. WordPress is a platform I know well and trust—it powers many of my projects under Does This Help®, and it is accessible to schools, churches, and communities. By building JOST as a plugin, I made it something that can be installed, shared, and adapted by others. It is not just for me; it is for anyone who wants to teach standing tall.
The technical features of JOST—REST API endpoints, dashboards, CSV import, shortcode integration—mirror the kind of systems used in professional environments. Students logging minutes are not just learning accountability; they are learning how databases, forms, and reports work. They are seeing how inputs create outputs. They are experiencing, in a small way, the same kind of tracking systems they will encounter in any serious workplace.
Technology is not neutral. It either empowers or enslaves. By building JOST, I chose to use technology as a tool for empowerment, accountability, and self-governance.
Part IV: Faith and Accountability
Another reason I wrote this plugin is my faith. I believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ. I believe that God knows everything we do. Whether anyone else sees it or not, God sees, and we know. If what we did was wrong, it will catch up with us. If what we did was right, we will stand tall.
This truth applies in classrooms, in neighborhoods, and in cyberspace. When a child logs their service hours in JOST, they are practicing this principle: what you do matters. Even if nobody praises you immediately, the record is kept. Even if nobody notices, the hours accumulate. Accountability is not about surveillance; it is about integrity.
The pledge of allegiance, which I placed prominently in the patriotic index page of JOST, is not just words. It is a reminder that we are one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. To me, that means we cannot have liberty without accountability. We cannot have justice without self-governance. And we cannot have a nation if children are not taught to pledge themselves to something higher than convenience or comfort.
Part V: Community and Unincorporated Life
I live in Rancho del Oro, an unincorporated island in Maricopa County. That reality shapes my perspective. In an unincorporated community, there is no city government looking over our shoulder. We rely on the county for basic services, but day-to-day, we are responsible for ourselves. That is both a gift and a challenge.
I often say that my property is not just land, it is sacred ground. It has been defended by veterans, tended by families, and blessed by God. I cannot let neighbors trespass, destroy, or sue without standing up. Because if I let it happen here, it happens everywhere.
JOST is a mirror of this unincorporated reality. It is about training children to be self-governed in their own “unincorporated island” of school life. If they can run their own snack bar, serve their own crosswalk, lead their own student body, then they can learn to live as free, independent, accountable adults.
Part VI: Does This Help®
Everything I build is part of my larger brand: Does This Help®. That name is not just a business; it is a philosophy. Before I act, I ask: does this help? Before I speak, I ask: does this help? Before I build a plugin, I ask: does this help?
JOST helps. It helps children learn. It helps parents step back. It helps communities trust their youth. It helps schools revive traditions of self-governance. And it helps me honor my own calling as a teacher, developer, and automator.
By releasing JOST as a WordPress plugin, I put it in the namespace of Does This Help®. That means it is part of my long-term vision: to build digital tools that empower people, teach accountability, and preserve independence.
Part VII: The Future
Writing JOST is not the end. It is the beginning. I see a future where:
- Schools adopt JOST as part of their student leadership programs.
- Parents see the value of letting children run the snack bar, not doing it for them.
- Children graduate not just with grades, but with badges of service and leadership logged in a system they can take pride in.
- Communities use JOST to track service hours for scouts, youth groups, and volunteer projects.
- Churches adapt JOST to teach accountability in service and worship.
- And one day, perhaps, JOST evolves into a larger ecosystem of youth self-governance tools.
Conclusion: Standing Tall
Why did I write this plugin with ChatGPT? Because I am not just building code. I am building a legacy. I am teaching my children, my neighbors, my students, and my community that independence is not given, it is practiced. That self-governance is not optional, it is essential. That accountability is not punishment, it is freedom.
JOST is my way of standing tall. It is my way of honoring my ancestors, teaching my children, and preparing the next generation. It is my way of saying: I will not let traditions of service, leadership, and responsibility die. Not on my watch. Not on my land. Not in my community.
And that is why this plugin matters. That is why I wrote it. And that is why I will keep standing tall—with my faith, my family, my community, and my God.
Log new service and view your totals.JOST Dashboard
→ Shows the student dashboard.
Includes the log form plus a simple totals panel.
→ Standalone service log form.
Students (or teachers/guardians on their behalf) can log a date, minutes, and notes.
Totals by Student
Student Minutes Hours
→ Displays the admin/teacher report table.
Lets you filter by date range and view logged entries.