To learn more or to have your company participate as a Job Shadow site, please click here and complete the registration form. All participating companies will be included in the PR and communications efforts for this event.
Chamber of Commerce Hawaii Partners with Junior Achievement Hawaii and DOE on Groundhog Day to Pilot Job Shadowing Program for Middle Schoolers
Local Businesses Needed as Participant Partners
HONOLULU (December 19, 2014) – The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, in partnership with Junior Achievement Hawaii (JA) and the Department of Education (DOE), announced today a Job Shadow Day pilot program taking place on February 2, 2015, Groundhog Day, for middle school students on Oahu. Following success with its high school job shadowing program, through which students are connected with businesses from various industries and “shadow” employees as a means of mentorship and to help them identify potential career paths, JA, for the first time, is offering this program to middle school students on Oahu to help them identify potential high school and college pathways.
“The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii is pleased to support this initiative and encourage our members, and all businesses, to participate in this valuable program to help prepare Hawaii’s students for high school and beyond,” said Chamber of Commerce Hawaii President and CEO Sherry Menor-McNamara. “By making this program available to our middle school students, we are fostering their curiosity in exploring career options, and paving the road to high school graduation and college, setting them up for success and investing in a skilled workforce.”
Job Shadow Day will partner an employee of a local organization with a student, who will “shadow” that employee throughout the day and receive hands-on mentoring. The student will have the opportunity to learn about the position and the company, as well as receive valuable educational and career development advice. Past participating organizations have included those within the healthcare, hospitality, financial, technology and government sectors.
“Junior Achievement’s core goal is to ready Hawaii’s students in the areas of financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship,” said Junior Achievement Hawaii President Kimberly Canepa. “We recognize a need to expose our middle school students to various careers and to adequately prepare them for high school. We’re piloting this program with Oahu middle schools. We also thought it would be a fun twist to hold our Job Shadow Day in conjunction with Groundhog Day when groundhogs emerge to see their shadows.”
“Thanks to the support of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and Junior Achievement, Groundhog Job Shadow Day 2015 will give our students valuable opportunities to work alongside professionals on the job,” said Schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. “These experiences go beyond the classroom in expanding students’ horizons and encouraging them to think about their desired careers.”
For more information on Junior Achievement Hawaii and to get involved as a local business partner in Job Shadow Day, please visit: jahawaii.com.
About Junior Achievement Hawaii
Junior Achievement of Hawaii was founded in 1957 to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business, and economics. As part of the world’s largest and best-managed economic education partnership program, the program has reached over 6 million students throughout the United States and in nearly 100 member nations. JA Hawaii’s mission is to insure that all of Hawaii’s young people learn financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship skills to foster a competitive 21st century workforce for the State of Hawaii.
About the Hawaii State Department of Education
The Hawaii State Department of Education is among the largest U.S. school districts and the only statewide educational system in the country. It is comprised of 255 schools and 34 charter schools, and serves more than 180,000 students. King Kamehameha III established Hawaii’s public school system in 1840. The DOE is in the midst of a range of historic efforts to transform its public education system to ensure graduates succeed in college or careers. To learn more, visit HawaiiPublicSchools.org.
About the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii
As the leading “Voice of Business” in Hawaii, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii is the state’s largest organization advocating for businesses in Hawaii. Established in 1850, the Chamber works on behalf of its approximately 1,000 member companies and the business community, as a whole, to advance the state’s economic climate and help businesses succeed. The Chamber supports its members with training, business building and networking opportunities; coordinates advocacy activities for members’ involvement; and serves as a liaison between civilian and military communities in Hawaii. Visit cochawaii.org.
# # #
Contact: Lori Abe
808-545-4300
808-282-4398 (mobile)
labe@cochawaii.org
To learn more or to have your company participate as a Job Shadow site, please click here and complete the registration form. All participating companies will be included in the PR and communications efforts for this event.