Poole Peer Career Coaches Bring ‘JA Our Nation’ to Fifth Graders at Cary School

Poole Peer Career Coaches typically spend up to ten hours a week in the Poole College of Management’s Career Center, 1133 Nelson Hall, helping other Poole College undergraduate students fine-tune their resumes and answering career-related questions.

But on January 25, seven of them took their commitment to service beyond Nelson Hall, to help with a Junior Achievement (JA) event at Farmington Woods Elementary School in Cary.

Using “JA Our Nation ®” – one of the curriculum modules produced by Junior Achievement for upper elementary school students – the Poole Peer Career Coaches (PCCs) presented and led sessions that introduced the younger students to free market systems, entrepreneurship, career clusters, job retention, and global economic relationships.

The program’s interactive approach – including board games and mock job interviews – kept the younger students attentive and engaged in each activity. “It goes to show that active participation really plays a role in learning,” said Evan Michael, Poole Peer Career Coaches president and a junior in accounting.

The business students mostly worked in teams of three, with one PCC giving the presentation and two others assisting the students as needed with related activities.

Whitney McLaughlin, an NC State College of Education doctoral candidate in counselor education programs and graduate assistant in Poole College’s Career Center, helped coordinate the Poole team’s involvement with the school, but notes that most of the organizing was done by the Poole Peer Career Coaches (PCC), led by Michael. PCC is one of Poole College’s student organizations.

JA Service Day: Starting a Tradition of Community Engagement

Michael had pitched the idea of the JA service day to the student organization and helped to coordinate the logistics with Junior Achievement.

“I wanted the Poole Peer Career Coaches, as an organization, to start a semester-by-semester tradition of giving back to the community,” he said. “This (JA event) sounded like a great opportunity for us to develop as a group among the Peer Career Coaches and to talk with kids. This will give them a head start on the business world, managing their finances and being aware of the economy at a young age,” he said.

The Poole Peer Career Coaches gave the project a solid thumbs-up.

“Teaching career-related topics with the Junior Achievement curriculum was not only a great opportunity for me to work with the community, but this experience also helped me learn how to make adjustments and present developmentally appropriate material for the targeted audience,” said Jared Beshgetoorian, a Poole College sophomore majoring in business administration.

Learning starts with a little curiosity. – Grant Oloffo, Poole Peer Career Coach

Grant Oloffo, another PCC and Poole College junior, said, “Participating in the JA event taught me a lot about having a globally minded approach to business. The fifth graders learned so much material and it just goes to show that learning about global economics, or any subject for that matter, starts with a little curiosity.”

“I was amazed at the aptitude of the students. It’s really encouraging to teach elementary grade students something that they gravitate to. We had a lot of fun with it,” said Olofflo, who is majoring in accounting.

“My favorite part of the event was getting to hear the fifth graders’ ideas and their perspectives on the topics,” said Devin Farrell, a Poole College sophomore majoring in business administration.

“I learned how enthusiastic fifth graders are about real world topics such as business,” Evan said. “I would strongly suggest that any club volunteer with Junior Achievement. It is a wonderful team-building activity and directly helps others,” he said.

Chandra Russell, a member of the undergraduate staff in the college’s Career Center, led a session on entrepreneurship. She said she was initially concerned that the students wouldn’t connect with the content.

“Some fifth graders can be shy and not want to speak. But everyone wanted to answer the questions, more than one time. I fed off their energy,” she said, adding that her opening question – “Do any of you watch the Shark Tank?” – proved to be a good icebreaker.

The JA programs are “designed to help middle school children gain knowledge and economic reasoning skills to make sound financial decisions,” Russell said, “and the PCCs found the materials enabled them to connect with the younger students.”

Also participating were Poole Peer Career Coaches Jared Beshgetoorian, Thuy Huynh, and Amanda Wagner.

Our Mission: Developing leaders who approach business with an innovative, entrepreneurial mindset. – Tamah Morant, Poole College associate dean for undergraduate programs

“Having our Poole College student organizations be a visible part of the community directly supports our mission of developing leaders who approach business with an innovative, entrepreneurial mindset,” said Tamah Morant, Ph.D., associate dean for undergraduate programs at Poole College.

“We are proud of our students’ commitment to positively impacting our society through scholarship, learning, and service. Experiences like this one show our Poole students and the youth in our community how important and impactful business can be,” she said.

“I like to think that because we are dedicated to giving our students an experience that emphasizes engagement with industry, they are working to pay it forward by sharing some of that experience with the community in true think and do fashion.”

About Poole Peer Career Coaches

“The Peer Career Coaches aims to make as much career readiness impact as possible in Poole College and the Raleigh community,” Michael said.

“I’ve directly seen the positive change that Career Coaches have brought. Whether it be conducting mock interviews with my fellow Poole students and helping them land their dream job, or teaching the next great minds about entrepreneurship, this club has enhanced my college experience tremendously,” he said.

Read more about the Poole Career Coaches and other Poole College-related student organizations.