Junior Achievement helps students dream big...with smart planning
Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?
That familiar, age-old question may be harder to answer, especially in uncertain economic times and amid rapidly changing demands for specific competencies. While many busy parents look to schools for help, educators in turn are increasingly relying on hands-on initiatives, such as activities based on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), that better prepare and motivate students for real world challenges and depend on a mix of content knowledge and empirical problem-solving patience and grit. But all this great academic experience amounts to little if the student doesn’t know where or how to apply it once he or she graduates….that is if he or she intends to graduate at all.
Enter Junior Achievement (JA) of Greater South Carolina, an organization whose mission is to “prepare young people to succeed in the global economy…and provide them with the inspiration and tools….to become financially independent adults.”
While schools themselves may not have the necessary budget or flexibility in their prescribed curricula to include lessons about these important subjects, organizations like JA can bridge the gap and help students map their skill-sets and interests to potential career tracks.
Volunteers from the community, whom the organization regards as “the heart of the program,” are trained to deliver specially designed lessons within the classrooms that correlate to state and Common Core standards. These volunteers, successful business executives within the community, are in an ideal position to explain - and model - key concepts about financial literacy and career mapping, and share their personal experiences along with the tough career decisions they’ve had to make along the way.
Research shows that communities tend to enjoy more robust economies as a direct response to a rise in the overall levels of education of their individual populations. That’s true for communities in the greater Daniel Island/Cainhoy area that want to see more students make the decision to graduate from high school ….and follow through on that commitment. By connecting students with successful, business-oriented members of the community and delivering engaging, content-rich lessons in the classrooms, JA is committed to molding young people who believe in themselves and have the confidence that they can make a difference in the world.
JA Area Director Jeni Becker coordinates grade appropriate programs consisting of five 30-45 minute lessons for elementary school, or six 45-50 minute lessons for middle school, together with school administration and staff. The program lessons reach a total of 40 elementary and middle school classrooms - and approximately 800 students - across Daniel Island School, Philip Simmons Elementary Middle, and Cainhoy Elementary. The JA programs at these three schools, for the current academic year, have been made possible thanks to a generous donation from the Daniel Island Community Fund (DICF).
Daniel Island resident Peter Harper, a member of the DICF committee responsible for selecting recipients, points out, “JA meets some of the most important requirements on our checklist, starting with the fact that it is a non-profit organization, it provides specialized education that students need and it ensures that its programs reach those students farther up in the Cainhoy area as well as Daniel Island. We’ve supported the organization before, they do a fantastic job, and I am very comfortable with the decision to support them again this year.”
Emerson Bain, a seventh grader at PSMS shares how she’s benefitting from the JA initiative: “Junior Achievement has really made me think about what I want to do for my future career. Our teacher for Junior Achievement helps us focus on what we like to do and choose a career that we would enjoy. Last year, I didn’t know what I would want to be when I grew up, but now with Junior Achievement I know exactly what I want to do and what classes I should take in high school and college to reach my career goals.”
Mom, Lee Ann Bain enthuses, “I think this is a great program. It really helps the kids to learn more about themselves and all the career paths that are available to them.” Equally important, students in some cases discover that careers they used to dream about may not a good match for their interests and skills. “Emerson definitely learned she does not want to be a politician,” points out Mrs. Bain.
Volunteers also benefit from leading the programs. Stephanie Shuster, a Senior Vice President at Bank of America reflects: “I have really enjoyed being a JA volunteer in a classroom with very hardworking kids at PSMS. Figuring out the right career is a subject that is very near and dear to me. I see so many people go for careers because of the money or because they took the first job offer and then they are miserable down the road. We spend too many hours in the day at our jobs to be miserable. If I can even impress that upon at least one of the kids in the class and get them to figure out what they love to do - what they are naturally talented at – and evolve that into a career path – then I will feel that the program was successful.”
The JA programs are a win-win for all involved. Ms. Shuster adds, “The kids at PSMS class work hard and dig deep to figure out what they like to do and where they could apply those interests. That kind of determination is a solid foundation for success.”
JA of Greater South Carolina needs four to five volunteers to help deliver a program to Kindergarten classrooms at the Daniel Island School on Monday morning, 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., April 24. For more information on this or other opportunities to volunteer this year in the Daniel Is-land/Cainhoy community, please contact JA Area Director Jeni Becker at 843-324-7974 or via email at: Jeni.Becker@ja.org.