High school heroes' visit impresses younger pupils

December 30, 2009

SPRINGFIELD - More than 100 students from Springfield Central High School and the High School of Science and Technology participated in the Junior Achievement High School Heroes programs during the first week in December.

The students prepared for the week from early fall. They completed JA Success Skills, a program that provides engaging, academically enriching, and experiential learning sessions in work-readiness education and career perspectives as well as four hours of volunteer training in order to become JA High School Heroes.

This is the third year for the JA High School Heroes Program, and more than 200 high school students completed the program and presented JA programs in grades K-3 in elementary schools throughout Springfield.

This year JA added a new twist to the program, a pre-event visit to the schools where the JA High School Heroes events took place.

On Dec. 1, the JA High School Heroes traveled to Talmadge School, Liberty School and William DeBerry School and the Heroes introduced themselves to their teachers and the elementary students.

The Job Shadow event was designed to familiarize the High School Heroes with their teaching partners' classroom management techniques, observe the organization of the classroom and to reinforce the professionalism the High School Heroes needed to model in the classrooms on their JA in a Day event.

On Dec. 2, students from Don Jones' Career Development Class at Central High, along with a cadre of returning JA High School Heroes from last year, presented JA programs to kindergarten, first- and second-graders at Talmadge School, while adult JA Volunteers taught in the fourth and fifth grades.

Colleen Whitman, a second-grade teacher at Talmadge said, "I really enjoyed the experience and the children really loved it. The JA program expanded on the second-grade curriculum of civics and government. The children kept asking when they JA High School Heroes would be back."

For more information about Junior Achievement, visit www.jawm.org or call (413) 747-7670.