Junior Achievement launches new high school program to help close workforce skills gap
Students at Caesar Rodney High School and Glasgow High School participate in a work readiness and career exploration program – includes new digital app.
Junior Achievement of Delaware® launched a new high school program, JA Career Success™, to help close the workforce skills gap. The national JA program was underwritten by a $1.1 million grant from Accenture announced earlier this year and reflects the company’s Skills to Succeed initiative, which aims to equip 500,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business.
JA Career Success delivers both career exploration and work readiness skills through hands-on, interactive program activities, including Junior Achievement’s first digital app, JA Success Park™. During its first year of implementation, the program is expected to reach 85,000 students nationwide.
Junior Achievement of Delaware was one of only 16 JA markets selected to receive a grant from Accenture to implement the JA Career Success program. With the help of volunteers from Accenture and Energizer, Junior Achievement of Delaware has successfully launched JA Career Success in-school classes at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden and at Glasgow High School in Newark.
“JA Career Success was created to address an unmet need among students,” said Rob Eppes, President of Junior Achievement of Delaware. “Employers are struggling to find entry-level talent with a skill set of both traditional education such as math and science skills and 21st-century skills such as problem-solving and collaboration. The combination of these talents creates well-rounded professionals that are more likely to get, and keep, jobs in high-growth industries.”
JA Career Success helps students identify their desired careers and better understand how to develop the skills necessary to achieve success. As part of the curriculum, students learn how to effectively conduct a job search, how best to respond to common interview questions, and how positively building their personal brand can translate to a rewarding career.
The program’s app, JA Success Park, aims to extend the learning opportunity, allowing students to connect within and beyond the classroom through interactive challenges. JA Success Park is designed as an amusement park where students apply their knowledge of the 4Cs (critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity), best business practices, good customer service and conflict resolution at each attraction to unlock fun throughout the park. The JA Success Park app is designed for Android and iPad tablets and is free of charge on Google Play and Apple App Store.
For more information on Junior Achievement of Delaware, visit www.jadelaware.org. To learn more about the workforce skills gap, read Junior Achievement’s position paper (PDF).
About Junior Achievement USA™ and Junior Achievement of Delaware™
Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches four million students per year in 124 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.8 million students served by operations in 119 other countries worldwide.
Junior Achievement of Delaware serves students in the entire state of Delaware as well as students in Cecil County of Maryland and students in Salem County of New Jersey. In 2012, JA of Delaware served over 18,400 students, delivering more than 329,000 instructional contact hours across its innovative in-class and experiential learning programs. JA experiences focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development.