Heaven Hill Booth Attracts 765 Eighth and Ninth Graders to Virtual Junior Achievement Career Exploration Event
Heaven Hill has guided more than 700 Kentuckiana eighth and ninth graders to career paths in the distilled spirits industry, as part of the Junior Achievement Inspire Virtual program.
A career exploration event, JA Inspire Virtual is a program designed to connect students with real insights on the industries and specific jobs that interest them, as well as the education they will need to do them successfully.
The virtual event gives students access to a simulated exhibit hall with booths hosted by local businesses. The Heaven Hill branded booth, one of only two featured in the distilled spirits industry, draws visitors in with photos of family leaders and employees and streaming banners featuring company achievements and Heaven Hill’s 85th anniversary.
Entering our exhibit, students can access a Heaven Hill history and corporate overview, video interviews with current team members, profiles of entry-level jobs and stories of team members who began as interns and have continued their careers in full-time roles at Heaven Hill.
As part of the JA Inspire Virtual event, Heaven Hill has also sponsored a webinar on “How to Prepare for an Interview” and volunteered to answer student questions as part of the “Ask an Expert” feature.
“The distilled spirits industry plays a huge role in our local economy, and Heaven Hill offers job opportunities that intersect with most of JA’s career clusters,” said Heaven Hill Chief Financial Officer Will Rives. “JA gives us a chance to help mentor and support local youth, while also building a pipeline for future talent to come into Heaven Hill.”
Serving on the JA of Kentuckiana Regional Board, Will has spearheaded Heaven Hill’s involvement in several of the organization’s initiatives – including the Kentuckiana Business Hall of Fame, Free-Enterprise Golf Scramble, JA Personal Success and previous JA Inspire events.
The 2021 JA Inspire event garnered over 6,000 log ins from 15 school districts, more then 34,000 visits from 15 school districts across Kentucky and Southern Indiana and 1,800 webinar views.
In a survey of participants, more than 88% of students agreed that they benefited from JA Inspire. A similar percentage stated the event introduced them to businesses they didn’t know about before and that they learned about a new career at JA Inspire.
“How many of us would have raised our hands in eighth grade if our teachers had asked, ‘Who wants to be a professional basketball player or a Broadway star?’” said JA of Kentuckiana President Debra Hoffer. “It is very gratifying to see how important it is to educators and the business community to prepare and INSPIRE young people to careers in our region.”
Hoffer said the innovation of the virtual platform allows students unlimited visits to explore future careers for three months after the kickoff and share their interests with parents. Student exploration of the career fair is teacher led, with students completing activities in the JA Inspire Virtual Student Workbook.
Heaven Hill is part of the curriculum workbook, which teaches students the importance of career planning and outlines jobs under various career clusters. After students complete workbook assignments, their teachers assign them career exploration activities in the virtual career fair. Students seek out exhibitor booths based on career interests they have already expressed in the preparatory lessons.
As the organization plans for next year’s event, they are working with Junior Achievement USA to potentially extend the platform for nine to 12 months and increase options for student interaction with exhibitors. The 50 JA area offices and JA USA will enter a negotiation with the software company to request upgrades in late spring.
“Career planning is a continual process, and it would be nice to have JA Inspire Virtual always there, 24/7, for young people to explore when they get new ideas,” she said.
