Proactive Career Planning at East High School

Junior Achievement Launches Work-Readiness Program at 5 Denver-area High Schools

By Erin Vanderberg, Editor

Starting this February, students in Pat Walker’s Business Management elective at East High School will focus on their careers through a Junior Achievement work-readiness program funded through a grant from Accenture.

The JA Career by Design program is a redevelopment of one of JA’s most requested high school classes: JA Success Skills. After working with workforce experts to identify ways to address the skills gap, the redeveloped curriculum is designed to equip students with tools and skills required by employers to get and keep a job in 21st Century, high-demand career industries.

“I am really looking forward to helping students discover what they want in a career and develop a plan to make it happen,” said JA President Robin Wise, who will lead East’s program.

Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain, Inc. is a volunteer-based nonprofit in the city that provides in-school and after-school programming on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to students.  Accenture’s Skills to Succeed grant will take the curriculum to an estimated 85,000 students in 15 states.

“JA has a long-standing relationship with East High School,” according to JA’s Communication Director Kim McGrigg, a Park Hill resident. “JA volunteers and teacher Pat Walker have partnered for more than 10 years to help students develop the skills necessary to achieve success after graduation.”

The program aligns with Colorado’s Individual Career and Academic Plans (ICAPs). ICAPs assist students in developing and maintaining a plan to ensure that they are ready for postsecondary and workforce success.

All of JA’s programs are taught by trained JA volunteers, who, says McGrigg, “bring the curriculum to life and serve as role models by bringing their enthusiasm and life experience into the classroom.”

High school students interested in learning about business, themselves, and their future are invited to attend JA Business Week at Johnson & Wales University from June 9 to 14.  To learn more, visit JAColorado.org.  Applications are due on May 3 and scholarships are available. Interested volunteers can also find out more at JAColorado.org.