Wednesday March 22, 2017, St. James Parish filled with over 200 students from grades 10-12 in the Foothills.

This event hosted by Junior Achievement is called World of Choices.  Created to show our youth the options they have once they leave school.  For the past three years it was a girl-only event and this year the boys were invited to join in.  A wide variety of professionals were on-hand to share their world with the students - Actor, Artist, Music Industry, Banker, Doctor, Funeral Director, Construction, Government, Health Services such as Nurse, Physiotherapist, Vet, Administration, Family Support Services, Interior Design, Engineer, Engineer Technologist, Food Microbiology, Teacher, Human Resources, Marketing, Mechanic, Social Media, Insurance, Military, RCMP, Firefighter, Post Secondary Education, Crop Scientist, Sports Management, Realtor, Social Work, TV/Radio Host, Information Technology, Workplace Safety, Writer, Singer, and Entrepreneurs.

Craig Snodgrass (Lyle Reeves Funeral Home) with kids learning about funeral directing.

Kevin Wallace (Program Director 99.7 Sun Country) chatting about careers in radio.

Local Firefighter Candy Parker (FFD) shared her passion.

Junior Achievement started with a vision to help teach young people about business and free enterprise. That was back in 1919, before JA became a global leader in educating youth about financial literary, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Now in over 121 countries, JA brings volunteers together with over 10.2 million of our future leaders.

The JA Southern Alberta charter was launched in 1960, and has grown into an organization that operates through 9 offices across southern Alberta, reaching more than 23,000 students in grades 5-12 every year. With the help of local school boards, companies dedicated to youth success, multiple Rural Leadership Councils and a committed board, we are positioned to grow even further.

Our keynote speaker for the day was RBC Branch Manager (Turner Valley) Shanda Bouchard.  She shared her personal story of being one of the first women to sign up in the military in 1992 at 18 years of age.  She shared that as a child she overcame mild dyslexia and now holds a degree in Arts (Education) and is working towards her MBA.  She was amazing and inspiring and showed the possibilities of how to climb within a company as well.

Shanda Bouchard with RBC

The theme of this years event was the 4th Industrial Revolution.  In January 2016, the World Economic Forum released a series of reports about the future of work.  According to their research, we are entering a Fourth Industrial Revolution.

There was great conversation around it. 

All-in-all a very cool and inspiring day.

Karen Vavrek and Timmi Shorr from Junior Achievement and Jody Seeley