Atlanta teens receive career exposure through JA of Georgia in partnership with AT&T

Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia is bringing important career readiness experiences to students in metro Atlanta as part of AT&T’s signature education initiative AT&T Aspire. Students from Cross Keys High School and Shiloh High School were assigned an AT&T mentor through the JA Job Shadow™ program, which gives students a firsthand glimpse into a professional career.

JA Job Shadow™ begins in the classroom with three sessions to help students learn more about careers, including how to identify a career based on interests, steps in researching potential jobs and developing job-hunting skills like networking and interviewing. The students then will visit an AT&T corporate office to shadow an employee for half a day to see first-hand how education translates to a satisfying and successful career.  

“Many students may not have exposure to all of the career options that exist today,” said Jack Harris, President and CEO of JA of Georgia. “Through the AT&T Aspire program, we are giving students the opportunity to be exposed to different paths and to help them realize the endless careers available in their own community.”

During the 2015-2016 school year Junior Achievement and AT&T seek to impact more than 7,000 students nationwide. This could not be achieved without the support of AT&T mentors that are a part of the company’s Aspire Mentoring Academy program. Through Aspire Mentoring Academy, AT&T employees connect with students to help them discover their passions and potential. Aspire Mentoring Academy is part of AT&T Aspire, our signature initiative to promote student success in school and beyond.

“Mentoring is a two-way street and our volunteers also learn so much from the students,” Diane Watson, AT&T Services. “The students and mentors both walk away feel inspired. They’ve talked about passions, values, encourage, education – you name it. These students are ultimately the future of our company, and other companies worldwide, and it’s important to invest in them now.”

The collaboration between JA of Georgia and AT&T is a continuation of their joint commitment to providing authentic and relevant experiences that help young people in the community be in control of their future success.

See what students and AT&T mentors who have completed JA Job Shadow™ have to say about the program: http://youtu.be/L3NWazI2_UM.   

About Philanthropy & Social Innovation at AT&T

AT&T Inc. is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its community initiatives, AT&T has a long history of investing in projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; or address community needs. In 2014, nearly $127 million was contributed or directed through corporate-, employee-, social investment- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T Aspire is AT&T’s signature education initiative that drives innovation in education by bringing diverse resources to bear on the issue including funding, technology, employee volunteerism, and mentoring.

Babson College offers new scholarship exclusively for JA students

WELLESLEY, Mass.-- Babson College, the top-ranked college in the United States for the study of entrepreneurship, and Junior Achievement USA®, the country's leading organization giving young people the knowledge and skills to own their economic success, have partnered to offer a $20,000 per year merit scholarship for a Junior Achievement (JA) USA student who attends Babson. According to research , JA alumni are two and one-half times more likely to become an entrepreneur when compared to the general population.

The new scholarship program was recently celebrated in Atlanta, Georgia, at a Junior Achievement leadership event held at the JA Discovery Center.

"Entrepreneurship is a driver of innovation and job growth and is critical to our future, so it's essential that we help young people better understand how it works and how they can become entrepreneurs," said Jack Kosakowski, president and CEO of Junior Achievement USA. "We greatly appreciate Babson College's commitment to helping Junior Achievement students achieve their dreams through the power of entrepreneurship."

"We are pleased to partner with a world-class organization such as Junior Achievement that shares our vision and desire to educate entrepreneurial leaders who create great economic and social value—everywhere," said Babson President Kerry Healey, who recently joined the Junior Achievement USA Board of Directors.

The Babson College Junior Achievement Scholarship amounts to $20,000 per year for four years. Students enrolling in Babson in fall 2017 are eligible; in order to apply, applicants will have until February 1, 2017, to submit an essay about "What does Junior Achievement mean to you and how will you apply your Junior Achievement experience while at Babson?" This aid will be beneficial to JA students who, like many college students, use loans to finance their education.

Federal government data find that Babson College undergraduates who receive financial aid enjoy career success during their earning lifetime. According to the 2016 U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, Babson College undergraduate alumni enjoy median salary earnings of approximately $86,700 10 years after entering college. This is more than double the national average of $33,800 according to the College Scorecard and places Babson College at the top among elite college and universities in the United States.

About Junior Achievement USA®

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 4.8 million students per year in more than 100 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.6 million students served by operations in over 100 other countries worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.

Atlanta Public Schools and JA of Georgia expand partnership to launch JA Academy

Innovative high school model brings real world connectivity into the daily academic experience to engage students in education and empower them to own their future success

 Atlanta, GA—  Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia today announced an expansion of their partnership to include JA Academy, a model to redesign high school education to make it more relevant, experiential and authentically connected to life beyond the classroom walls.

The partnership between APS and JA began nearly a decade ago. In 2013 the two organizations extended their partnerships with the launch of the JA Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center, which houses JA BizTown and JA Finance Park. Since 2013 every 6th and 7th grade student in APS has participated in these 360-degree learning experiences that combine in-class curriculum with real-world project based application. JA Academy will provide APS students the opportunity to expand upon the learning from middle school in a fully immersive model that incorporates real world connectivity and cross-curricular learning as core components of the daily high school experience.

JA Academy will enroll its first class of 150 APS students at B.E.S.T. Academy High School at Benjamin S. Carson, located near Atlanta’s Westside neighborhoods, beginning August 2017. Enrollment is open to all rising ninth and tenth grade students, who reside within the APS attendance zones, and the school will continue to grow as students matriculate to the next grade level.

JA Academy operates as a school-within-a-school with the overall goal to drive better outcomes for all students by developing a framework that can be replicated into the broader school, and eventually scaled throughout the school system. 

“We truly believe to create more pipelines to economic opportunity and to lift an entire generation, we have to work in partnership with our school systems to reimagine public education,” said Jack Harris, President and CEO of JA of Georgia.  “We are honored to partner with Dr. Carstarphen and APS, and together deliver a solution that brings innovation to education, elevates the quality of our curriculum and educators, and ultimately empowers all students with the skills, competency and motivation to thrive in today’s complex economic environment.”

JA Academy is designed to provide four years of rigorous standards-based education that integrates business connectivity directly into the education process. The framework creates an interdisciplinary learning environment that engages students through dynamic real-life case studies, which provide exposure to a myriad of industries and careers, and creates purposeful connections between academic concepts and real-world application.  The curriculum also gives students hands-on experience through work based learning, collaboration with mentors, and engagement with post-secondary institutions.

JA Academy at B.E.S.T. will be the third school and school system since 2015 to integrate this model, and JA expects to expand to two additional systems by 2019.

“The attitudinal and academic growth among our first year JA Academy students cannot be overlooked. This framework is not only revitalizing curriculum, but also heightens the level of professional development and support for the teachers, which is undoubtedly a key factor for success,” noted Harris.  “JA is proud to work with Atlanta Public Schools as we continue to build the model and be a part of APS’ efforts to continue to construct a district of high performing schools.”

“We are grateful to everyone who makes our partnership with Junior Achievement of Georgia possible,” said APS Superintendent Meria J. Carstarphen.  “The JA Academy is an example of our mission in action that focuses on collaboration to ensure that every APS student will graduate ready for college and career. A program of this caliber will expose our students to all the business world has to offer them.”

For further information on JA Academy, visit http://www.georgia.ja.org/jaacademy/.

ABOUT ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Atlanta Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the state of Georgia, serving approximately 50,000 students across 98 learning sites. The district is organized into nine K-12 clusters with 87 schools, 17 charter schools and two citywide single-gender academies. For more information, visit www.atlantapublicschools.us