Junior Achievement of North Florida is looking for business owners and professionals to join them as virtual volunteers.
The organization helps young people connect with relevant learning and the importance of staying in school. The program reached more than 62,000 students during the 2018-19 school year.
Virtual volunteers can choose to teach a JA program online at grade levels from kindergarten to high school or share their job story in a video accessible to teachers.
“Our goal with the videos is to showcase the broad spectrum of jobs in our city and to give teachers a free online resource,” said Steve St. Amand, JA president of North Florida, in a news release.
Volunteer virtual teachers will be trained by JA staff and receive program kits with scripted guides and activities for students. Lessons are 30 minutes and volunteers will be connected with a teacher.
Volunteers also can share their job story by submitting a video or setting up an interview with a JA team member using Zoom, Skype or FaceTime. Those interested in an interview should email [email protected].
To submit a video of your story, record yourself on your phone or tablet in horizontal mode and answer the questions below in separate videos, with answers about 4 minutes long.
Here are the questions:
• Introduce yourself with your name, job, plus any family or personal information you’d like to share.
• What did you do after high school? Did you go straight to college and if so, did you major in the field you are currently in? Expound.
• What does a typical day look like for you when you weren’t socially distancing? Do you work Monday-Friday? Weekends? How much do you travel?
• Now that you are practicing social distancing what is your typical day like? What has stayed the same?
• What do you hope people learn out of this temporary change in our world and our new normal? What are positive aspects you’ve observed that come out of challenging times? How did you prepare financially, if at all, for a situation such as this?
After the videos are recorded, send them to [email protected].
Videos also may be submitted via Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or the free file transfer website, WeTransfer.com.
The JA of North Florida team will edit together the videos to share the stories with teachers.
Virtual volunteers can sign up at janfl.org by clicking on COVID-19 Next Steps and online resources and scrolling down to find information about virtual volunteering.
Junior Achievement of North Florida has been operating in Jacksonville since 1963 and has a satellite office in Tallahassee.
Visit www.janfl.org to learn more.