For more information:
Wendy Walleigh
408-988-8915 x208
wwalleigh@jascc.org
On Friday, January 31, 2003, Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley & Monterey Bay is partnering with many businesses and organizations throughout the area who will show students how business really works. During Groundhog Job Shadow Day, students will shadow employees at their workplace to observe a variety of jobs within a company during a typical day. In a few short hours, students will learn the relevance of their schoolwork to business as well as potential new career opportunities. Thus, students are better prepared to enter the workforce and become productive employees.
Since 1953, Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley has been the premier K-12th grade economic education organization. JA teaches young people the principles of free enterprise so that they understand business and economics, are workforce-ready, and are prepared to be successful, contributing citizens in our community. Groundhog Job Shadow Day has been a U.S. Junior Achievement program since 1998. Legend says the groundhog looks for its shadow at the same time each year to determine when spring arrives. So at this same time each year, Junior Achievement prepares "turnkey" curriculum which guides a wide range of companies on how to demonstrate their businesses to students, particularly by shadowing their employees.
Sponsored by VERITAS Software, Groundhog Job Shadow Day 2003 is anticipated to place over 1,700 middle and high school students in Santa Clara County alone. VERITAS' Cecily Joseph, Executive Director of VERITAS Software Foundation, said, "Previous to 2002 Goundhog Job Shadow Day, a few VERITAS employees were Junior Achievement volunteers in a Mountain View elementary school. Last year was our 1st Job Shadow Day and Junior Achievement made it very easy for a larger number of VERITAS employees to volunteer because the Campbell high school students came to us. We were so pleased with how that day turned out, that we became the sponsors for the 2003 Groundhog Job Shadow Day. VERITAS is excited about hosting Evergreen High School students this week."
More than 100 companies will host a total of about 4,000 students in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties. Participating companies represent a broad slice of businesses, from high tech to hospitality, from biotech and hospitals to construction, colleges, logistics, and banks (see list below for some of the hosts" names with their matching schools). Since finding and matching companies is a large task, Junior Achievement has received help from NOVA and Silicon Valley Workforce Investment Network, which are employment and training agencies. NOVA is funded by the city of Sunnyvale, Workforce Investment Network by the city of San Jose, and both by the U.S. government. NOVA and Silicon Valley Workforce Investment Network have generously provided staff and business connections to help find and match a significant number of companies to place students.
While most host companies follow JA's curriculum exactly, some organizations get a bit creative. For example, Fed Ex Freight will provide Accel Middle College students with an interactive approach to show how the trucking and freight industry works. Harrell Remodeling will give San Jose Conservation Corp students insight into interior design as well as remodeling a variety of spaces. Bill Gould, an architect with his own firm, is hosting students from Crossroads, an alternative high school students in San Jose, because he had attended an alternative high school himself. The city of Campbell is coordinating with several downtown businesses to host Rolling Hills Middle School students to give them a variety of work experiences. And Superior Court of Santa Clara County will have students shadow a few judges to experience their "typical" days.
School districts across the region see tremendous value in students experiencing a typical workday in many different types of jobs. For instance, Fremont High School in Sunnyvale is sending about 30 students to multiple locations, including to the City of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara University Law School, Columbia Neighborhood Center, and the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Bonnie Plummer, Assistant Superintendent at the Santa Clara County Office of Education and JA Board Member, supports Groundhog Job Shadow Day throughout the county, saying, "Students that participate in this program enhance their career knowledge and learn about future job opportunities through employee-mentors." Junior Achievement Groundhog Job Shadow Day truly does broaden students' horizons.
3Com Oak Grove H.S. 6th year of participation-AFROTC Students Adobe Mt. Pleasant H.S. Agilent Technologies Andrew Hill H.S. Science Magnet Students AOL Crittenden M.S. 2nd year hosting 60 kids from Crittenden Middle Applied Materials Mt. Pleasant H.S. Applied Materials Saratoga H.S. Bank of Santa Clara Santa Clara H.S. 1st time participant Cisco Systems Wilcox H.S. Hosting students from a "partner school" Comerica Bank Oak Grove H.S. Finance Academy students Cypress Semiconductor Accel Middle College El Camino Hospital Overfelt H.S. Gear Up Fairmont Hotel Oak Grove H.S. IBM Santa Clara H.S. Kaiser Permanente Lincoln H.S. Shadowing doctors, nurses, and business staff 2 hospitals and a clinic Kaiser Permanente Milpitas H.S. Kaiser Permanente Prospect H.S. Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara H.S. Plantronics Scotts Valley M.S. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oak Grove H.S. Several Dates throughout spring most after April 15 SBC Gunderson H.S. Engineering group San Jose Sharks Andrew Hill H.S. Gear Up Behind the scenes; discussions with all key departments SAP Labs Piedmont Hills H.S. SGI Silver Creek H.S. 6th year of participation Siemens Westmont H.S. Sun Microsystems Milpitas H.S. Synopsys Sunnyvale M.S. 28-Feb The Santa Cruz Seaside Co. Gateway Beach Boardwalk behind the scenes Therma Mt. Pleasant H.S Veritas Evergreen Valley H.S. Sponsoring company Westin Hotel Milpitas H.S. Hosting students from Travel and Tourism Magnet School
About Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay, Inc.
Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay is the premier K - 12 local economic education organization. Globally, Junior Achievement is the largest and fastest-growing nonprofit economic education organization, annually teaching 6 million elementary, middle school and high school students in over 110 countries. Junior Achievement's mission is to ensure that every child in America has a fundamental understanding of the free enterprise system. Since 1953, Junior Achievement has partnered with businesses, communities and schools from Silicon Valley to Monterey Bay to teach young people the principles of free enterprise so that they understand business and economics and are workforce-ready. Only Junior Achievement teaches K - 12th grade students about the relevance of school to their future success by using community and business role models to bring our classroom programs to life. In multiple classroom visits, these volunteers use their experience and knowledge to help students become workforce-ready by applying critical thinking and school skills to solving real-world problems. As a result, approximately 27,500 children from this past year will impact Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay communities as successful individuals, workers and consumers. Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay: Impacting local economic education one classroom at a time. For more information and to get involved, visit http://www.jascc.org or call 408-988-8915.
