Michelle Anderson: Every adult has career and life experience to inspire Maine’s kids with Junior Achievement
Every month PelotonLabs co-founder Liz Trice interviews a local community member. This month, Liz caught up with Michelle Anderson, the President and CEO of Junior Achievement, which works with students in classrooms K-12 to inspire and prepare students for career and financial success.
What is Junior Achievement’s current presence and success in Maine?
We partner with 150 schools across the state, impacting 12,000 students each year. We work with the schools to identify and fill holes in career awareness, workforce readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship education and bring volunteer mentors as role models to bring the real world into classrooms. All our mentors are volunteers who share their own real-world experiences with kids. The teacher stays in the room the whole time and is ready to assist and help the kids make the connection between what they’re doing in school. It’s all experiential and hands on activities, and helping kids translate their skills and interests to careers.
Why is giving kids views of careers necessary?
Kids are our workforce of the future. Early exposure to different job opportunities and career paths helps kids dream big and forge their path to the future. If they don’t see relevance to what they’re learning in school, they’re not engaged. We help kids think about what their interests and skills are now and how that might translate to a fulfilling job in the future.
Maine is made up of so many entrepreneurs and small business owners, but if kids don’t see that, they might not know that’s an option for them. And same with other careers. Our programs align well with the state’s learning standards, and addresses issues of economic mobility. It’s really helpful for kids to see role models of working adults from all different backgrounds representing all different industries, especially if they don’t have working parents.
I heard fifty percent of kids touched by JA start a business. That’s amazing!
Yes, JA’s impact on kids is huge. We found that over 50% of JA alumni have worked in the same field as the mentor who came into their classroom! Eighty-one percent of JA Alumni say JA played an important role in their career path, 51% have started or owned a business, 88% say JA exposed them to new ways of thinking. Students report having higher career satisfaction and are more confident managing their finances.
We receive feedback from educators that, post-Covid, students had lower student engagement and aspirations. So they’re looking to Junior Achievement to help ignite a spark. Students get to meet mentors, ask questions about their experiences, and see opportunities.
Tell me a success story. Who is a famous JA Alum?
We have a lot of Junior Achievement alum that come back as volunteers – 50% nationally. I think this speaks to the long-term impact JA experiences have on students. We have lots of wonderful stories. One that comes to mind is two men who participated in our JA Titan Challenge when they were in high school – an immersive simulation experience that puts high school students in the CEO seat to run a business and make real time decisions on price, production, hiring. It was so impactful on these men as students that it sparked them to want to get into business, and now one comes back as a volunteer.
On a national level Mark Cuban of Shark Tank is a JA alum and credits his early interest and success to Junior Achievement.
You say any adult can be a mentor, is that true?
Anyone can be a JA mentor, you just need a willingness to work with kids, and we do the rest. There’s so much flexibility. It could be as little as one hour commitment during the school day. Or up to a once-a-week commitment for several hours over several weeks. We don’t charge school partners, so we rely heavily on the financial and volunteer resources of the business community to bring JA to life.
The mentors bring their willingness to share life experiences to kids. Everyone, no matter your background or work, has something to share. Junior Achievement provides an easy-to-follow curriculum, and you’re never left alone with kids – there’s always a teacher in the room. You can even shadow someone else mentoring until you’re comfortable doing it yourself.
How did you get into this?
I started as an unpaid intern over 12 years ago; I went to the University of Maine and wanted to work for an organization that helps kids. I have a child development, family relations, and communications degree. As soon as I got in the classroom with JA, I saw the link between workforce and education, and never left. I love what this organization does to empower youth to have the skillset and mindset to live choice-filled lives and build thriving communities.
What do you wish every kid in Maine knew?
I wish every kid had mentors and role models in their community. No matter what career path anyone goes into, you need the soft skills and money management skills to be a successful adult… You graduate from high school and need to know how to navigate insurance, taxes, budgeting, and soft skills like collaboration, communication, continuous learning… Just knowing how to make eye contact and shake someone’s hand.
Learn More, Donate, or Volunteer: https://maine.ja.org
Networking Event: Learn more about mentoring in February, visit https://maine.ja.org/events/index.
