Empowering Oklahoma’s Future
Since 1966, Junior Achievement (JA) of Oklahoma has been a trusted partner of education and business leaders across the state. JA of Oklahoma provides authentic, relevant, and engaging experiential learning opportunities designed to unlock young people’s potential. JA of Oklahoma get results by infusing traditional academics with real-world connections, creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit. JA of Oklahoma’s approach inspires students to stay in school and shows them how to leverage their education to achieve their personal and professional goals.
Junior Achievement’s proven lessons in financial literacy, career readiness, and entrepreneurship are shown to positively impact the lives of young people. These lessons align with national and state educational standards and are delivered to millions of students across the country with the help of our education partners and volunteers from the local community.
JA of Oklahoma collaborates with partners in education and the business communities to help ensure young people make more informed choices that lead to greater success and satisfaction as adults.
A Pathway To Success
JA employs a pathway approach to teaching young people, offering a continuum of engaging learning experiences. As students progress through their educational journey, they develop skills needed to be financially responsible, career ready, and entrepreneurially-minded.
JA programs are designed to engage students on these subjects over multiple grades, from their first day in Kindergarten through their high school years, helping to put them on a pathway to success. While JA of Oklahoma has a portfolio of curricula available to school systems, our signature offerings are our JA Capstone programs - JA BizTown and JA Finance Park. These programs first provide rigorous curriculum in the classroom for student learning to occur. Then, students have an opportunity to visit the JA Experiential Learning Lab, allowing them to put into practice what they have learned. Research shows that this type of learning develops deeper understanding, the capacity for critical thinking, reflective judgement, and application of knowledge in unclear or complex situations. This learning also supports the advancement of abilities that allow students to effectively engage in problem-solving, critical thinking, and lifelong learning.
Why JA? Why now?
The need for JA programs has never been greater. The U.S. economy continues to experience the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and growing global tensions. In the workplace, “The Great Resignation” has put an even greater strain on employers who were struggling to find qualified workers before the pandemic. On the financial front, strained supply chains, rising fuel costs, and government stimulus used to help bolster the economy during COVID-19 have resulted in inflation not seen since the 1970s. And while the shutdowns that occurred in the early months of the pandemic had a devastating effect on small businesses, entrepreneurial activity has rebounded to a level not seen in decades. These factors, coupled with an educational system in crisis, makes these challenging times for all of us, but especially for our young people.
Junior Achievement inspires and prepared young people to succeed in a global economy.
Our mission is the part Junior Achievement plays in a wider vision for the future and represents the day-to-day work we do for the millions of young people we serve. Through JA, youth are inspired and prepared to succeed in whatever the global economy brings.