NELNET TO co-SPONSOR 2005 Job Shadow DAY

National event pairs students with workplace mentors; helps inspire kids to achieve career goals

Colorado Springs, Colo. - It’s not February yet, but National Groundhog Job Shadow Day is looming large. Nelnet, one of the leading educational finance companies in the United States, has agreed to co-sponsor Job Shadow Day on February 2, 2005. Groundhog Job Shadow Day is a nationwide mentoring opportunity for students to “shadow” adults at their workplace for a day, gaining valuable first-hand knowledge of the world of business. Title sponsor ING and associate sponsor Valpak are also on board to support the initiative, now in its eighth year.

Coordinated by the Job Shadow Coalition, which includes organizations such as America’s Promise, Junior Achievement, the U.S Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education, Groundhog Job Shadow Day gives middle grades and high school students an up-close look at the workplace, helping students better understand the important connection between business and school subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics. In 2004, more than one million students and 100,000 businesses participated in the event nationwide.

Groundhog Job Shadow Day gives students a chance to explore career options beyond what their parents may do for a living. It also provides an opportunity for students in “at-risk” situations to be exposed to various career options by taking them to actual places of employment. Previous hosts to students include former President George H.W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Today show hosts Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.

“Nelnet sees the importance of helping our nation’s students get a first-hand view of the many career options open to them,” said Don Bouc, president of Nelnet and a member of JA Worldwide’s board of directors. “Groundhog Job Shadow Day is a valuable experience for young people to learn about the world of business and become inspired to pursue a career that will be satisfying and rewarding to them.”

When surveyed, 90 percent of business volunteers believed the students recognized the relationship between what they were experiencing in the workplace and what they were learning in school, 67 percent of students reported that Job Shadow taught them how important education is to their success, and 86 percent of students reported that their experience in a Job Shadow program had changed their attitudes about working. The most frequent changes cited included: “gave me ideas of jobs I didn’t know about before,” “gained better insight into what working is really like,” “changed my job interests,” and “motivated me to go to college.”

For more information about Groundhog Job Shadow Day, visit www.jobshadow.org.

About Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Through a dedicated volunteer network, JA provides in-school and after-school programs for students in grades K-12. JA offers educational programs that focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development. Today over 140 offices reach four million students in the United States, with over two million students served by operations in 97 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.

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