Thankful: conscious of benefit received; expressive of thanks

We are so thankful for all of our partners, volunteers, teachers and students. During this season when gratefulness is top of mind, we’d like to take a moment to spotlight one of these segments in particular: teachers.

It goes without saying that we couldn’t impact as many students as deeply as we do without teachers. For students visiting the JA Discovery Centers, teachers bring the classroom curriculum to life to prepare the students. At JA Academies, teachers evolve from someone who delivers a history lesson, to some students’ role models, mentors and biggest cheerleaders.

At the 2017 JA Atlanta Business Hall of Fame we had the pleasure of hearing from the lead teacher at Banneker High School, our inaugural JA Academy. Ms. LaToya Morgan embodies what it means to be passionate about your work. Every student of hers knows without question that she is rooting for their success, even in moments of tough love. It was truly an honor hear to her get the opportunity to boast about her students and all they’ve accomplished in such a short time. Check out a snippet of her speech below:

“My students attend a Title 1 public high school. Every single one of them live at or below the poverty line. According to every piece of research, they are the pinnacle of disengagement in education. Yet, our kids are showing up to school, leaning into their education, lifting each other up and learning at accelerated rates.

The students leaped nearly three grade levels in reading and math, and outperform their peers on all 9th grade state test, and get this they surpassed students just like them from schools throughout Fulton County.  

 To say JA Academy is transforming students is an understatement.

Bottom line, these kids prove poverty can no longer be a blanket excuse for poor performance in our schools.

When we as a community step up to bring innovation to education, every child has the potential to excel farther than the limitations dictated to them by society.

Our students have been exposed to possibilities many of them could never have imagined. Because of this they have a greater respect for their education- and they are working tirelessly to fuel the futures for themselves and their communities. 

JA Academy does not just make school different it elevates every individual involved.

My students look at the world and the role they can play differently. They’re not just dreamers. They know how to work hard, set goals and put forth the effort to reach the finish line.

They are defying every stereotype and invisible barrier that has been placed on them their entire lives.  Today, they are leaders in our schools, tomorrow they will be leaders of our communities. They are the ones breaking the cycle and rewriting the narrative about today’s generation.  They are the ones proving to their little brothers and sisters that there is more than one option for their futures.

I work hard because my students are my life’s work, but they are the real heroes. They are resilient, determined, driven and inspire me to be a better person and teacher every day. Because of them I know the work we are doing today will impact generations to come.”

Teachers like Ms. Morgan make our work at JA a no brainer. If we can provide passionate and driven teachers like her the space and resources they need to make learning different, who says we can’t transform the entire high school education experience?

Cisco supports JA of Georgia’s programs to redesign education

Atlanta, Georgia - Cisco is partnering with Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia to prepare metro Atlanta students for their future. Specifically, Cisco is providing a grant of $150,000 to support the development and implementation of the program pipeline for the JA Academy and the JA Discovery Centers.

 One of the most notable aspects of Cisco’s partnership with JA of Georgia is their presenting sponsorship at JA BizTown at the JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett. Opened in 2015, JA BizTown presented by Cisco provides an unmatched experience where 6th grade students are able to interact within a simulated economy and take on the challenge of fueling a business. Here, students not only discover the intricacies of being a professional and member of the community, but also discover the abundance of opportunities available within their city.

 The success of the JA Discovery Centers has only grown since their launch, and the impact the experiential simulations have is evident in student engagement and changed perspectives. To continue to elevate its impact, JA of Georgia launched the JA Academy in August 2015.

 “Today’s students are facing an economy based on rapidly changing technologies – many that don’t even exist yet,” said Jack Harris, President and CEO of JA of Georgia. “In order to effectively prepare students for this new reality, their education must be relevant and authentic; it must move past theory and connect them to the complexities of the real world.”

 With support from Cisco and other partners, JA Academy is re-engineering the high school experience to be more relevant, experiential and authentically-connected to life beyond the classroom walls. JA Academy provides four years of high school education through a lens that engages students and prepares them for success. It is integrated learning through dynamic case studies, collaborating with peers, and access to industries to gain exposure and build the skills needed to go as far as one can dream.

The first year at Banneker High School resulted in JA Academy students consistently outperforming their freshman peers, as well as a significant drop in absenteeism compared to the same peer group. The second JA Academy opened at Norcross High School in Gwinnett County in August 2016, and the third is slated to open in August 2017 at B.E.S.T. Academy in Atlanta Public Schools. 

JA Academy: Beyond the classroom walls

JA Academy is empowering today's generation to be more prepared and motivated than ever before. Real-world connectivity is infused into the everyday learning experience and the result is a highly engaging and
relevant learning environment.

Business connectivity through case studies and site visits are two components that give students these
types of opportunities to connect their academics to life beyond the classroom walls. Integrated within
the standard curriculum, the students work through business challenges presented by and in conjunction with advisers from partnering companies.

As the groups of students work to develop a solution to a real issue that the company has faced, they
are exposed to the intricacies of the day-to-day for many employees in the business world. What makes this company who they are? How can we solve this challenge in a manner that reflects those values? What are the implications of our decision? Who do I collaborate with to make this happen?

The site visit serves not only as a culminating experience after weeks of research, discussion and preparation, but also as an opportunity to discover positions, companies and industries they may not have known existed. 

JA Academy at Norcross High School’s first site visit was to WestRock, a Fortune 500 global printing, packaging and recycling company headquartered just three miles from the school. Through the case study, the students discovered that the process of printing something as unassuming as a tissue box involves infinitely more steps, collaboration and decision making than they imagined.

While in the Structural Design department, students built off of what they learned in class to get a complete scope of the challenge. Does the client choose the design of the box? What if they don’t like what you come up with? Let’s back up; what kind of technology and background do you have to have to create these in the first place? What if the material the client wants doesn’t do the job as well as another material may, how do you relay this information to them?

In a span of a few minutes, students fed off of each other’s questions to dive into what actually goes on in these employees’ work days. They went beyond the surface level questions and into the questions that will begin shaping the trajectory of their own aspirations and futures as they discover how their interests can translate into career.

These are the kinds of unassuming moments that can last a lifetime. When we provide authentic experiences students become energized around not only what they could become, but what they can do now to help get them there. That’s where the transformation of education becomes obvious; when students begin connecting their academics to their future possibilities, they are more motivated in the classroom and empowered to go further than they can dream.