Junior Achievement prepares students to succeed
Apr. 30—Harmony Gronkowski from Dallas High School swayed back and forth, vigorously practiced CPR skills on a manikan.
Gianna Caprari from Pittston Area High School walked away with a gold "coin" made of chocolate after correctly answering trivia questions about banking.
And Cyrus Sutnavage from Lake-Lehman tried on pounds of heavy fire-fighting gear, courtesy of Jessica Crawford from the Wilkes-Barre City Fire Department.
"I wanted to see what it felt like," said Sutnavage, who isn't sure what kind of career he might enjoy, although earth and space science is his favorite subject.
"I'm open to anything," he said on a recent spring morning at Mohegan Convention Center in Plains Township, where Junior Achievement of Northeastern Pennsylvania had organized its second-annual JA Inspire career fair.
Junior Achievement's mission is to prepare young people to succeed in a global economy, and it offers age-appropriate resources to students, parents and teachers, from Kindergarten through 12th grade, to help kids learn about everything from college financial aid to saving for retirement.
Perhaps its most exciting offering is JA Inspire, which this year gave an estimated 2,500 high school students a chance to interact with people working in various careers.
"I talked to a lot of future engineers today," said Tara Mugford Wilson, president of Power Engineering Corp. "I'm glad to see so many girls are interested."
Indeed, as she spoke, Giovanna Smacchi, Carolyn Comitz and Lindsay Matinas from Dallas High School were standing at the PEC station, twisting handles to manipulate air currents as each of them kept a ball floating on top of a tube. The apparatus simulates an heating/air conditioning unit, Mugford Wilson said.
At other stations, students interacted with a robotic arm and were invited to take part in various activities, from a small-scale version ofbasketball to cornhole and question-and-answer games, all the while absorbing information about future careers and schooling.
"We've got 180 admitted for fall 2024," Susan Koronkiewicz from Luzerne County Community College's nursing program said, noting she'd fielded many questions from potential students that morning.
"Last year we had a 100 percent pass rate" for nursing licenses, her colleague Bonnie Orth added.
Students were able to talk to professionals in the fields of health care, engineering, education, tourism, transportation, manufacturing, business management, media, marketing, law and many others, JA president Susan Magnotta said, noting she was grateful to event sponsors Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services & DiscoverNEPA.
