Pod Request Access Landing Page - HTML, CSS, JS, JQuery

Here is my solution to the challenge. This was my first that involved JavaScript, at least with Frontend Mentor. While I didn't have much trouble with the structure and style (although, I can see some room for major improvement), I did have a couple of struggles.

I used vanilla JavaScript to validate the form and it works fine, but when I tried to do the same with JQuery, I kept getting hung up a bit. It doesn't seem to want to validate. If you are interested in reviewing this and have knowledge of JQuery, I could sure use some suggestions. You will find the code on the index.js file commented out. Any help is appreciated.

You will also notice that I tried to keep the "separation of concern" as true as possible. My HTML is for structure only, the CSS for styling, and the JS for functionality. The only exceptions to this are, of course, the hover events.

I am open to any comments or constructive criticism you may have. I am especially concerned with the coding being of professional quality, efficient, easy to understand (as a collaborator), or more reliable ways to do things.

I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions!

Jeff