SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Distance learning can be hard. But it can also be incredibly meaningful and, dare we say, fun.
ABC10’s Keristen Holmes has volunteered with Junior Achievement (JA) for years. It's a program that teaches kids the financial tips they don't typically learn at school. It also brings real-world careers inside of the classroom. Now they’re taking their mission of “Inspiring Tomorrows” online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Keristen got back in the classroom virtually and shared her path to journalism and what it’s like to work in the news industry before and during the coronavirus pandemic. This is just one example of how JA is bringing their programs right to your home.
Daumian Austefjord is the Program Manager for JA Sacramento.
"We're modifying, we're retooling, we're doing everything we possibly can to make our assets, our digital assets available to teachers and parents so they can provide that kind of distance learning to their students right now," Austefjord said of the effort to go completely online.
Austefjord adds that this is the perfect opportunity to get kids seriously thinking and planning for tomorrow.
"Rather than have students in what could be a negative moment of now, this education really provides inspiration and empowerment for their future economic success," Austefjord said.
Clarissa French teaches at La Entrada, El Sereno, and Meraki High in the San Juan Unified School District and utilizes JA in her classrooms.
"Our students come with these great ideas of who they want to hear from and these great careers that they're interested in," French told ABC10.
French says JA may not look the same, but it still has the same heart of wanting to help students think outside the box and grow.
"I can be on Zoom. I can teach you how to use this tool. I can show you online resources. I can walk you through it. I can add you to my Google classroom. I can organize all of my resources for you so that you can look at them and include them in your research and what you want to do for your future. And by showing that to them, it opens up the possibilities of what they can do in the future as well," she said.
Junior Achievement has made its resources available online for free. If you're interested in implementing their lesson plans in your home or giving back to JA's cause during Thursday, May 7th's Big Day of Giving, they'd welcome the help. Click here to learn more.
Continue the conversation with Keristen on Facebook.
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