Junior Achievement Southern Alberta releases 10-year strategic plan

By Samantha Johnson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on October 12, 2022.

reporter@medicinehatnews.com

Junior Achievement Southern Alberta has released a 10-year strategic plan in which it resolves to provide greater support to educators and have a greater impact on the lives of students.

“It’s an increasing area of need,” said president and CEO Melissa From. “We are seeing growing demands and we know there is a great role we can play in making sure educators are equipped.”

JA is a world-wide organization and has been doing this type of programming for more than 100 years with plenty of classroom resources and curriculum that can be provided to educators. JA also plays a large role in professional development, particularly in financial literacy and entrepreneurship.

Financial literacy is taught to students from kindergarten to Grade 12. For the younger students, “we are really getting them to understand the fundamentals of economics, different currencies and the value of money,” said From.

They also focus on needs versus wants and how our economy works. In the older age groups, personal and business budgeting, understanding debt versus credit, loans, compound interest, credit cards and other functionalities of the banking industry are discussed.

Career readiness is geared toward high school students but “in the last decade what we’ve seen across Alberta and Canada is a bit of funnelling of students from a young age,” said From.

“As soon as they are going into high school, we are seeing students make choices in their electives and the programming they are doing.”

What a student takes in high school determines their path for post-secondary education and career choices. JA works with middle school students to ensure they understand what is required so they make the most efficient use of credits available during high school.

There is a world of opportunity and careers that don’t exist today but will in the future. Micro-credentialing, along with technical institution and college-level education is becoming more palatable to students with the hard push to go to university decreasing.

“From kindergarten to Grade 12 – we call it graduated pedagogy – in our ideal world, we would have a young person where their educator or school board would bring us into their classrooms every single year,” said From. “The program we deliver for each grade level can stand on its own, but they are best when put together. We have one day programming for every grade level.”

Longer-term programming includes career exploration for middle school students. Another for Grade 9-11 students is on investing, which includes a six-week investment simulation. An after-school program for high school students is about entrepreneurship and involves starting and running a business for 12-weeks.

JA is actively involved in all three school divisions in Medicine Hat and area. Registration in Medicine Hat has grown significantly for JA in the past two to three years with a noticeable increase in demand.

“The model we do, we allow for teachers to take the curriculum and deliver it on their own,” explained From. “What we find is the best-case scenario is to bring volunteers in from the community. It brings a different voice to the table for the students. What our biggest bottleneck right now is, finding volunteers in the community of Medicine Hat to get into the classroom.”

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer and sharing experience with students can go to jasab.ca and click on the volunteer tab at the top of the page. JA provides full training to get volunteers ready to go into the classroom.

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