Miss JA Business Reaches to 8th Grade Girls with Career Information

Junior Achievement of Western Kentucky recently hosted its inaugural Miss JA Business event.  The purpose of the event was to reach out to 8th-grade girls with information on potential career paths and introduce skills for professional careers. The day included educational workshops covering a range of topics such as interview skills, job advice, financial literacy, and even immersive career exploration using virtual reality goggles.

Many local companies worked together to bring Miss JA Business to our community including Audubon Metals and Gibbs. From Audubon Metals, Abbie Walters, HR Manager, and Riley Hamilton, Marketing & Recruitment Specialist, were both on the planning committee and served as Leading Ladies, mentoring the students throughout the day. Riley also spoke to the group about interview skills, providing tips on body language, punctuality, and cell phone etiquette.

With help from the Koch Foundation, Gibbs supported Miss JA Business as the Presenting Sponsor and many team members volunteered at the event. Mary Mayes, CMS Specialist & Senior Transportation Clerk, welcomed the attendees and delivered the opening remarks, setting an inspiring tone for the day. Darla Culver, Quality Lead, and Laura Moore, Tooling, were chosen as Leading Ladies to spend the day with the students to support them and answer questions.  And ReAnn Kitchen and Lauren Mackey led a very messy, but very fun interactive experiment with magnetic goo.

Audubon Metals and Gibbs were proud to be a part in this initiative for our community and were excited to see the students actively engaged the whole day. We hope to see Miss JA Business become an annual event, continuing to inspire and empower young girls to pursue their dreams and aspirations in the world.