On October 1, 2020, Total Dental Administrators and Junior Achievement presented the first ever Why JA Now event, to hear from JA students of all ages and their experiences with volunteers. The short, 20-minute video provides insight on how JA volunteers are shaping the future of Utah’s students.
Learn more about Citlali’s personal story and her experiences with JA from elementary through high school.
How volunteers have impacted JA students.
By Citlali Cardenas, Utah Valley University student
Growing up with Junior Achievement
Growing up, I always knew higher education was going to play a role in my career, but I was not always sure how I was going to get there. Junior Achievement was first introduced to me in elementary, where a volunteer would come into our classroom a couple of times throughout the month and teach lessons. As a young kid, I did not always understand the concept of the lessons, but now that I am older, I look back and realize how valuable they are. One of the lessons that has stuck with me was working together in an assembly line, it taught me at a young age how important it is to work with other people.
JA in high school
I reconnected with Junior Achievement my sophomore year of high school through Latinos in Action. Mr. Andrew Busath, my advisor and teacher at Kearns High School, suggested that I join the Junior Achievement and Synchrony after school program, so I gave it a shot not knowing what to expect. Little did I know, it would be some of the most valuable learning experiences in my high school career.
JA hosts many programs with volunteers from different companies. I was lucky to be paired with Mike from Synchrony for all three years of high school. I always had someone reaching out to me making sure I was on top of things like scholarships, applying to colleges, and opening a bank account. It was great knowing I could ask for help when I needed it. These volunteers would come in a couple of times a week after school, and spend two to four hours of their day to help us. It always shocked me how much they were willing to help. Soft skills are some of the most important skills to have post-graduation, and thanks to volunteers like Mike, I was able to learn these early on before I graduated high school. As a current freshman in college, these skills are currently helping me get through the semester. Being all online due to the pandemic, it has been challenging working in groups. I have been able to apply some of the communication skills I learned through JA and applied it to my current biology group.
Learning lifelong skills through JA
Through different hands-on activities, JA and our mentors taught us the importance of soft skills such as working together, being on time, leadership, communication, etc. Throughout high school, the words “resume,” “budgeting,” and “scholarships” were so common to hear, but I rarely ever talked about how to go about it. After school, the volunteers would do lessons through slideshows and then have a hands-on activity. The budgeting activity helped me realize how much money I was spending vs the amount I was saving. These activities pushed me to create a habit of saving money before spending it all, a lesson I did not know was going to translate over in the next couple of years.
Creating a resume and applying for scholarships was always hard and confusing, but sitting down and building a resume with my mentor was super helpful. I was able to see a real-life example of what a resume with experience looked like and ask questions along the way. These two specific things encouraged me to start my resume and apply for scholarships.
Another big takeaway I learned was, “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” Making connections in life can get you so far, and joining this after school program gave me the opportunity to meet some of the best people. Too often, hard work volunteers’ time are overlooked. What people do not realize is how impactful they are towards certain individuals. I will forever be grateful to all the volunteers who helped me and continue to cheer me on even after completing my JA program. They taught me lifelong lessons at a young age that will be with me forever.
