Since 1919, Junior Achievement (JA) has provided career readiness education programming to K-12 students nationwide. The Indianapolis Junior Achievement team set out to connect industry professionals and middle schoolers through hands-on activities aimed at demonstrating the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a specific job. In its first year, the JA JobSpark event – held September 29 and 30, 2016 at the State Fairgrounds – engaged over 6000 primarily 8th grade students from Indianapolis urban schools. JA JobSpark is a hands-on two-day career expo intended to “spark” students’ passions for lifelong learning and their interest in specific careers they can pursue in their future. At the event, students visited eight job clusters (Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Logistics; Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Architecture, Engineering and Construction; Business and Finance; Government, Law and Public Service; Health and Life Science; Hospitality and Tourism; and Technology) participating in activities and interacting with local professionals working in a cluster-related profession. Students learned about the skills needed for jobs that will be in demand when they graduate, while utilizing equipment and resources that are used in those jobs today. The ultimate goal was to provide students with a better understanding of the courses they may benefit from taking in high school, a track for post-secondary education, and a specific career pathway that they find interesting. Led by Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, the JA JobSpark planning committee consisted of a coalition of central Indiana educators, industry representatives from more than 100 companies, and the IPS Business Alliance’s Career Success Initiative. Approximately 3000 volunteers from companies throughout the Indianapolis area engaged with students throughout the event.

Graduate students and faculty from the Department of Technology Leadership and Communication in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, worked with the leadership team of the JA JobSpark program to develop surveys for participating students, teachers, and volunteers. After the JA JobSpark experience, an email was sent to teachers requesting that they, and their students, take a survey reflecting upon their experience with the program. Over 100 teachers and 1400 students responded to at least some part of their student or teacher survey. Results indicated that over half of the participating students believed that the JA JobSpark event had a positive influence on:

• Their attitude towards school and its importance for their future success
• Their belief that they have control over their future
• Their belief that they need to continue their education/training after high school

Moreover, nearly 75% of students believed that JA JobSpark had a positive influence on their belief that their skills and knowledge and how hard they work in school are important to their future success. These findings aligned with two of the key objectives of the JA JobSpark program. Teachers attending the event also believed that JA JobSpark increased students’ knowledge of career opportunities and pathways and enhanced students’ understanding of the skills and abilities they need to develop in order to reach their career goals. Further analysis will explore the alignment of volunteer and student perceptions in order to identify gaps for future events and JA JobSpark programming.