JA New Brunswick Partners with Centres of Excellence for Entrepreneurship

New centres of excellence offer students career experience in health and entrepreneurship

29 March 2022

FREDERICTON (GNB) – The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is launching two new centres of excellence to give students the opportunity to interact with experts and gain valuable career experience in entrepreneurship, health care and social work.

“I am proud that we continue to support and expand experiential learning opportunities for New Brunswick students,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy. “The centres of excellence allow students to gain insight into key industries. They are given a chance to interact with and learn from experts in their fields, regardless of their location in the province.”

Through the centres for health and entrepreneurship, anglophone students across the province will gain access to panel discussions, site visits, webinars, speaker series, mentorship, coaching, career fairs, industry training, and co-op placements. The placements could be virtual but, if circumstances permit, they could be in person.

“Our province continues to experience labour force challenges, which is why these centres of excellence are essential to preparing students for the many opportunities available to them,” said Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Trevor Holder. “Experiential learning is becoming increasingly important and these centres play a crucial role in the development and engagement of our future workers.”

The centre of excellence for health will also focus on improving mental health in schools and providing students with hands-on, interactive learning. In partnership with the school districts, the centre will offer classroom activities for students and lesson plans for teachers covering topics such as mindfulness practices, emotion regulation, self-esteem, healthy relationships, anxiety and stress.

“The Department of Social Development is pleased to participate in this important partnership that will help students explore the many career opportunities available in the care sector,” said Social Development Minister Bruce Fitch. “This initiative will engage long-term care service providers, home support agencies, community and government agencies to encourage and invigorate health and social care education within the school system.”

The centre of excellence for entrepreneurship will focus upon strengthening the financial literacy and awareness of students along with their business skills. Through the centre, students may get direct coaching on to their entrepreneurial ideas.

“Whether it is problem solving, leadership, or financial literacy, participants will develop skills through this centre that they can undoubtedly use for the rest of their lives,” said Arlene Dunn, minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick.

The centre of excellence model is part of the Future NB initiative, which aims to allow all students to engage in experiential learning opportunities before graduation, allowing them to build awareness of current and future career paths in the province.

The first centre of excellence, for Energy, was launched in April 2021. More information is available online.

Junior Achievement takes next step with development of ‘JA Campus’

MICHAEL STAPLES, THE DAILY GLEANER, NOVEMBER 24th, 2020

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced Junior Achievement (JA) New Brunswick to take a page out of its student handbook and become more inventive.  

Officials with the organization have responded by creating JA Campus, an online entrepreneurial learning tool. 

“It’s basically a campus that’s out there – like any other e-learning tool,” Connie Woodside, President and CEO of Junior Achievement New Brunswick, said.  “It’s good for the students, it’s good for the parents and the schools that we’re giving them an alternate resource.”

On Tuesday, the group that helps young people prepare for life in the global economy, partnered with the Fredericton Christian Academy, through its newly developed digital online campus, to provide its enrichment programs to the entire student body from grades three to 12.

“FCA is the first school to partner with Junior Achievement to adopt such an approach during the pandemic and we are very excited to be working with them,” Woodside said.  “Our goal is to have even more schools and students enrol on the campus to explore some fun, interactive and enriching learning.”

More than 200 FCA students took part in a JA program on Tuesday, Woodside said.

The learning tool offers all schools, students, parents and community groups throughout the province, a suite of 15 online, digital programs, designed to fit current curriculum outcomes, Woodside said. 

“Teachers, students and parents can visit the JA Campus at www.jacampus.org to open up a virtual world of learning being offered completely free of charge,” Woodside said.  “These online, digital programs are excellent resources for the home learning environment as well as the classroom setting.”

Woodside said prior to COVID-19, JA was a traditional deliverer of curriculum, taking packages of material into the classroom with a business mentor.

“We had to do a quick shift and upload everything to get it from the paper into a digital format,” Woodside said.  “We have taken all the traditional material that people have grown to know and love.  It has also given us the chance to almost double our suite of entrepreneurship programs that can be directed at the high school level to give them more than just a one visit to JA, which they used to do.”

The campus, brought online in June, had been on the JA backburner as part of a five to seven-year plan.  

“But the pandemic caused us to reach full throttle and get it up and running,” Woodside said.  “We kicked the training wheels off in September and it’s been a brand new entity.  We have the potential right now to reach more students. We couldn’t always get to the most rural areas of the province.  Now, we can be in very remote places.”