If you had the chance to make a positive difference in a child’s life, how would you do it?
By volunteering at Junior Achievement, you can do just that.
Emphasizing community
Kayla Eitreim is the president of Junior Achievement of South Dakota. The statewide, Sioux Falls-headquartered organization works to prepare students to succeed, said Eitreim.
“We have the opportunity to partner with our school districts to bring community members in to help students understand how to connect what they’re learning in school to their future.
“So, we’re building competencies of financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Really helping them understand those real-life skills they’ll need to be successful after they graduate,” she said.
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Katie McLaughlin, current Junior Achievement manager of student experiences and former “JA kid” herself, said the lessons learned through the program helped her in adulthood.
“One of my volunteers came in, and something I remember from high school was that he told us to never spend money that you can’t pay for in cash or buy something you can’t pay for in cash. When I got out of college and started living on my own, I had to do my own expenses. I always think to myself not to buy anything that I can’t pay for in cash,” she said.
Need for volunteers
Kelli Rogotzke is the senior manager of student experiences for JA. She said the organization is always looking for more volunteers.
“It gives volunteers the opportunity to make an impact on our future workforce. When you’re thinking about the type of people you’d like to hire or work with, as you continue to grow in your career, JA sends that message.
“When you walk into the classroom, you get to share about your own position. The things that you’ve done. Your future ambitions that you hope to have. JA is an opportunity to connect the community into the classroom for students to really have those ‘aha’ moments,” said Rogotzke.
She said she’s thankful for community partners like Sanford Health, who’ve helped JA live out their mission.
“We’ve always had engagement on our board from Sanford leaders. They’ve been a really great partner (especially) with our J-Inspire program that just launched two years ago. Sanford has invested to be our title sponsor for that event, to really help make that hands-on career expo possible for our local students,” she said.
‘It’s just really, really rewarding’
Sanford Health Plan senior administrative assistant Carla Thomsen, a 23-year Sanford Health employee, has volunteered at Junior Achievement for decades.
She’s currently the point of contact for Sanford Health employees who are interested in volunteering at Junior Achievement.
Thomsen said the commitment is small, but the benefits are large — for both volunteers and the students.
“It’s a five-week session that you have to commit to. It’s about 45 minutes of teaching in the classroom. The lessons are all laid out. It’s just really, really rewarding. I can’t say enough how excited a lot of these kids are,” she explained.
Thomsen said she’s proud to work for a company that prioritizes community as much as Sanford Health does.
“I have always felt that Sanford wants you to get out there in the community and do whatever it is you can. We have really had leadership step up to the plate and say, ‘Go ahead. Do it.’ We’ve been promoting a lot of volunteerisms.”
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Posted In Community, People & Culture, Sioux Falls
