The Journeys Map team had been fans of the work Junior Achievement for a long time, so when we got the chance to partner with them, we were eager to jump on the opportunity. Read on to learn more about how we are working together close make career exploration fun and engaging!
What is Junior Achievement?
Junior Achievement has 104 local JA Areas across the nation, and together they are the nation’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA’s programs—in the core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy—ignite the spark in young people to experience and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in the 21st century. Junior Achievement’s purpose is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.
What about Junior Achievement San Diego?
Since 1950, Junior Achievement of San Diego County has provided life-changing programs to more than 1 million young people—in the classroom and after school—to foster an understanding of how the “real world” works. To ensure young people are prepared for their future, JA teaches them how to get a job, start a business and how to manage money. JA programs reach every ethnic and economic demographic. For many students, the JA experience is a major highlight of their academic year. More than 5,000 volunteers annually, including 40 board members and a staff of 21 help to impact over 35,000 students each year and empower them to become “real world ready.”
How are we working together?
Journeys Map and Junior Achievement San Diego have partnered together to bring our engaging career exploration tool to the students taking part in the JA Finance Park experience. JA Finance Park helps students build a foundation upon which they can make intelligent financial decisions that last a lifetime, including decisions related to income, expenses, savings, and credit.
The JA Finance Park program is composed of 6 to 13 teacher-taught, in-class lessons. While completoing these in-class lessons the students are directed to a custom Journeys Map experience that has been built out for our partnership. It is during this experience that the students are able to complete a JA pre-test, receive both the RIASEC interest traits and skills matches as well as explore over 160 careers tied back to their specific skills and interests. It is during this process that each students selects a role to play while visiting Finance Park. By matching the student’s skills and interests and letting them self-select their role, engagement increases and they are motivated to dive deeper into their career exploration.
The program culminates with a hands-on experiential learning budgeting simulation at the JA campus in Mission Valley San Diego. Additional extension activities are available for each theme: Income, Savings Insurance and Risk Management, Credit and Debit, and Budgeting. Lesson differentiation includes traditional implementation, project-based learning (PBL) implementation, and simulation only options that can be utilized in a middle thru high school classrooms and afterschool settings.
“At Junior Achievement we prepare our young people for their economic success, connecting them to their futures and the endless possibilities that exist. Journeys maps has been the interactive tool for which we are able to provide students a better understanding of their strengths and interests and how those directly connect to successful career pathways. As both implementation and thought partners, Journeys Maps continues to support JA San Diego with resources that enhance our experiential learning opportunities. The Journeys Map platform not only provides our students with exposure to viable career pathways but shows them how to make their dreams a reality.”
The Journeys Map team is proud to be able to collaborate with our local JA in San Diego. We look forward to expanding our programs together as well as supporting other JA locations nationwide and the 5M students that visit each year.