Junior Achievement

On February 16, 2022 the Masonic Charity Foundation was honored once again to support and sponsor Junior Achievement’s Inspire Career Fair for students. Through a generous $50,000 donation, the Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma has made a substantial investment in Oklahoma’s youth. This benevolent gift will fund multiple Junior Achievement programs such as JA Inspire Exploration Fair (both virtual and on-site), JA Finance Park and JA BizTown. Throughout our four-year relationship, Junior Achievement of Oklahoma has reached almost 50,000 rural students and shared with them the tenets of fiscal responsibility.

The JA Inspire Exploration Fair, held in both the Tulsa and OKC region, allows JA to aid students in making career-based academic decisions as they prepare to enter high school. Junior Achievement of Oklahoma is excited to continue building our JA Inspire Career Exploration Fair for over 10,000 Oklahoma eighth graders. This Junior Achievement program is the capstone of our middle school curriculum and will aid students in making career-based academic decisions as they prepare to enter high school.  This 

JA Inspire Career Fair event offers experiences that will fulfill the ICAP (Individual Career Academic Plan) requirements as set by the state. To fit within the ICAP standards, Junior Achievement will be focusing on recruiting exhibitors from five career clusters or categories:  health sciences, communications and IT, manufacturing and engineering, business marketing and management, and human services and resources. 

“The Masonic Fraternity is proud to support financial literacy education programs such as those offered by Junior Achievement,” said Scott Vincent, Grand Master of Masons in Oklahoma. “The financial knowledge gained in this program will empower students to make good financial decisions as they begin their adult lives.”

JA Inspire is designed to be more than a career fair but a way to bring together businesses in the community with local schools and is designed to help launch students into their futures. The program 

Communications Director Lauren Riepl talking to students about MCFOK programs for kids

is both classroom and event based with the opportunity to engage in a virtual fair as well. It is presented in three segments: first, in class sessions presented by their teacher. Second, attending the hands on JA Inspire Expo and finally an in class debriefing of what the students learned. The career fair takes place in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City metro areas and is open to any public school district in the state. Over fifty organizations were present to teach young minds about the various fields they could enter, from the nonprofit realm to trade schools. The Virtual Fair also allows Junior Achievement to reach even more students, around 10,000 statewide, and there are no restrictions geographically in building capacity or even schedules, such as bus or teacher schedules, to allow learning at their own pace and including more rural areas. 

                 MCFOK Board Member Tim Israel, Shannan Beeler President of Junior Achievement of Oklahoma, JA Development Manager Brian Jackson,
                                                                  JA Regional Director Amber Shelton, MCFOK Executive Director John Logan