JA Inspire® Advanced Program

JA Inspire® Advanced is more than a career fair. It brings together the business community and local schools and is designed to help launch teens and young adults into their future - postsecondary education and their careers. The program consists of three segments: (1) pre-event career-oriented sessions; (2) the JA Inspire event, and (3) a post-event reflection. The JA Inspire event (in-person, virtual, or both) provides participants a powerful way to learn about real-world career opportunities and their local economy.

JA Inspire in-person events are multi-hour experiences where participants interact with company representatives and participate in hands-on activities, often using equipment or tools used on the job. VFairs, the online interactive platform used to host JA Inspire virtual events, provides a visually rich virtual environment that mimics the dynamics of a physical live event. Here participants attend webinars and presentations, explore company exhibits, and interact with company representatives.

Following participation in JA Inspire Advanced, participants will be able to:

• Gain insight into career clusters that interest them.
• Make connections with adults who have jobs in careers that interest them.
• Recognize traits of their local economy.
• Collect information about the education and training requirements to be successful in a job.
• Practice soft skills.

JA Inspire is part of the JA Work and Career Readiness Pathway and is recommended for high school students (grades 9-12) and youth 18-25. It has multiple curriculum implementation options: fully teacher-led, fully self-guided, or hybrid with classroom introductions and talking points for all self-guided sessions. A Spanish translation is available.

As part of this program, JA teachers and volunteers are encouraged to use the resources available in JA Connect®, located at https://connect.ja.org/. This self-guided experience includes interactives, exploration of JA Here to Career, and apps for participant use.

JA programs support national and state standards in reading, mathematics, social studies, and work and career readiness.

Implementation Options:

• Classroom Based
• After School
• Virtual

Standards Aligned:

• Common Core Standards
• National Standards
• State Standards
• Scope and Sequence