Houston's JA Inspire event offers career advice to thousands of students
In the eighth grade, kids’ focus generally shifts from candy fixations to getting a seat next to their latest crush in homeroom.
But in the Texas public school system, they’ve also got a big decision to make.
Recent legislation in the Lone Star State makes it mandatory for Grade 8 students to choose one of five streams of study, called endorsements, before they enter high school. These endorsements serve as career tracks, ensuring students have the courses they need to pursue the occupation they want following graduation.
The challenge? Many students have little idea what that occupation might be.
That’s where Junior Achievement’s JA Inspire event comes in. With the help of presenting companies like Enbridge, Junior Achievement exposes Grade 8 students to a range of in-demand career options by giving them the opportunity to interact with business professionals.
“The challenge is that a lot of these kids aren’t really aware of the career opportunities available to them,” says Thea Curry-Fuson, Director of Secondary Education for Junior Achievement Southeast Texas.
“So we created a kind of a career-fair-plus . . . where the students can meet the people from companies, hear about the different careers that are available and talk about how those align with the endorsement tracks that students have to choose.”
Earlier this month, Junior Achievement hosted its second annual JA Inspire event in Texas, attended by more than 20,000 students over nine days in three locations – including the Pasadena Convention Center in greater Houston, which drew more than 8,000 students. Each day, staff from roughly 35 companies staffed information booths and shared career insights.
At the Enbridge booth, where Senior Vice President Mark Maki and 12 other employees set up shop, a “smart pig” inline inspection tool display and aerial footage of an Enbridge pipeline corridor were both big draws, with students lined up 30 deep to get a look.
Bryan MacKenzie, Enbridge’s Manager of System Integrity for Gas Pipelines and Processing, enjoyed encouraging students to explore beyond the typical occupations in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) endorsement track.
“I pointed out that there are more options than being an engineer or a draftsman,” says MacKenzie. “There are so many careers within those fields.”
Next to MacKenzie and his team, Enbridge’s Justin Anderson, Manager of Geographic Information Systems for Gas Pipelines and Processing, chatted with students about the GIS computer mapping occupation he loves.
“I told them to go with their passion,” says Anderson, “because that’s how they’re going to be happy and excited to go to work for the rest of their life.”
