On the program this week, host Phil Tower, welcomes Bill Coderre, president and CEO of Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes. JA's primary focus these days is helping students with financial literacy. A big reason for that push with Junior achievement is that a new law passed in 2022 by the Michigan legislature requires that students must take a course in personal finance that is aligned with the personal finance content expectations or take a course in which the content expectations are embedded. Students earn ½ credit once they have demonstrated learning about personal finance content expectations.
Online: Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes
In our second half of the program this week, Phil spoke with Kerry Ebersole Singh, Executive Vice President & Chief of Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. In mid-April, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation changed the focus of its STEM Forward program to “STEAM Ahead” by building in new internship roles and opportunities that focus on the intersection of arts and science, technology, engineering, and math careers such as front-end web developers and industrial designers. The MEDC also announced new incentives through the STEAM Ahead program that are focused on helping Michigan businesses of all sizes to hire interns, add work experience opportunities for college students, and potentially find long-term, highly skilled talent to hire
Online: “STEAM Ahead"
Online: Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes
In our second half of the program this week, Phil spoke with Kerry Ebersole Singh, Executive Vice President & Chief of Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. In mid-April, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation changed the focus of its STEM Forward program to “STEAM Ahead” by building in new internship roles and opportunities that focus on the intersection of arts and science, technology, engineering, and math careers such as front-end web developers and industrial designers. The MEDC also announced new incentives through the STEAM Ahead program that are focused on helping Michigan businesses of all sizes to hire interns, add work experience opportunities for college students, and potentially find long-term, highly skilled talent to hire
Online: “STEAM Ahead"
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
iHeartMedia West Michigan Weekend a public affairsprogram and it's West Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio.
Thank you so much for tuning inacross whatever iHeartRadio station here in West
Michigan you are listening to, andif you're hearing this as a podcast,
thank you for listening wherever you are. We're also on the iHeartRadio app and
I am your host, Phil Tower. Very pleased in this segment to focus
(00:27):
in on the Junior Achievement Program JuniorAchievement Michigan Great Lakes, and what an
honor it is to have Bill Codeerwith US President and CEO of Junior Achievement
Michigan Great Lakes. And we aregoing to focus primarily on a hot button
topic which a couple of years agowas signed into law by Governor Whitmer here
(00:49):
in the state of Michigan, Michiganpast the law requiring high school students to
complete a personal finance course before graduation. That's right, just a reminder that
is now a state requirement. BillKodeir is on the phone with US President
CEO Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes.Bill, first of all, thank you
and welcome to the program. Thankyou, Phil, I'm glad to be
(01:10):
here. Well, I want tofirst of all kind of do a refresher
for our listening audience. It isbroad and diverse people all across West Michigan,
young and old. A lot offolks may know, they should know,
my goodness, they should know theterm Junior Achievement, but may not
understand how Junior Achievement really works todayin twenty twenty four. And you know,
(01:34):
obviously things evolved, things change.Talk about the program overall, how
it was, was and how itis today, because you have to adapt,
Bill absolutely. Junior Achievement has beenserving the country since nineteen nineteen,
(01:56):
and here in West Michigan since nineteenfifty six. And we started out as
an after school program where high schoolstudents, working with volunteers from local businesses,
start up and ran small businesses andlearned what it really meant to be
(02:16):
an entrepreneur. And over the yearswe've developed into a organization whose purpose is
to inspire and prepare young people tosucceed in a global economy by providing concepts
(02:37):
such as financial literacy, working,career readiness, and entrepreneurship. And we
do that kindergotten through twelfth grade herein West Michigan, and we just opened
up a couple of years ago,the Heisinger Family Free Enterprise Center, which
is a state of the art experienceyour learning lab that houses the Tom Fox
(03:05):
Family Jabiztown, the Hayworth Entrepreneurship Incubator, and the Carolyn Susan Haskell JA Finance
Park. Wow, it's literally aone of a kind facility in the entire
world, and we're thrilled to haveit here in West Michigan serving kids in
(03:27):
our community. And what a greatopportunity because you know, public schools don't
do this. This is where organizationslike Junior Achievement are really instrumental. You
have a line on your website thattalks about you know your focus, And
I love this line, Bill Coderer. It says you are all about teaching
core content in the areas of workreadiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.
(03:53):
And here's the part of this sentenceI love the most, igniting the sparking
young people to experience and realize opportunities, realities of work and life in the
twenty first century. I don't knowwho wrote that, but I love it
because the key three words in theirbill are in igniting the spark. Sometimes
it just takes a little encouragement oran idea, you know, the place
(04:15):
you just talked about, and thosepartnerships are really what that's all about.
Right, Oh, absolutely. Youknow at Junior Achievement, you know,
we believe in possible, and what'spossible is to help, is to give
young people to help them discover what'spossible in their lives. And we do
(04:36):
this by helping them connect what theylearn in school with life outside the classroom
and by using role models from thecommunity. You know. One of the
things that's so interesting is we doretrospective studies on our JA alumni. Fifty
(04:58):
one percent of JA alumni are inthe same career as their JA volunteer,
So it really is a life changingopportunity when our volunteers work with the students
and share what's possible. Yeah,that's really powerful. Bill Kadeer is with
(05:19):
US President CEO of Junior Achievement MichiganGreat Lakes. You talked about working with
students from very young ages like kindergarten, first grade all the way up to
twelfth grade. How does JA getin touch with schools? I mean some.
Obviously, school districts are different,some have different programs. School Board
(05:40):
says, we've got to have adifferent focus. How does that connection happen
between Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes andschool districts across our great state of Michigan.
Absolutely well. First off, allof Junior Achievement's curriculum is correlated to
the state education standards. So wetruly are helping educators teach what needs to
(06:02):
be taught, but just doing itin a different manner, a more hands
on collaborative, uh, you knowprocess. But you know, like anything
else, we have some school districtsthat you know, embrace Junior Achievement,
reach out to us and we implementprograms in their in their school districts,
(06:25):
helping them meet specific needs. Wehave other, uh school districts where you
know, we might be in someschools but not all schools. And then
you know, there's situations where ourja A team goes out and talks to
(06:46):
educators, whether it's superintendent conferences oryou know meetings at the local is sd
s or or or reces where wewhere we're able to talk to educators about
the work that Junior achievement's doing andhow we can partner with them for them
to be more successful in what theyneed to do. And really and really
(07:13):
that is how this whole financial literacyrequirement. You know, we were very
supportive of having this requirement because wereally feel it so critical for all students
to understand how to manage their ownpersonal finances. And when the governor passed
(07:35):
and put us into law, youknow who better than an organization that financial
literacy has been a focus, aprimary focus since the fifties here in West
Michigan. And so you know,in response to that new high school graduation
(07:57):
requirement, you know, we're steppingup up to help schools and students meet
this requirement by utilizing the resources andexperience and ja curriculum that we have locally,
regionally, across the state and throughour national offices. And you know,
we're really excited about the work thatwe're doing in partnership with with the
(08:24):
Michigan Department of Education. We're youknow, collaborating with other organizations, and
you know, with the number onegoal is to prepare our students, you
know, to provide them with theskill set and the mindset to build thriving
communities right here in Michigan. We'respeaking with Bill Cadare. He is president
(08:48):
and CEO of Junior Achievement Michigan GreatLakes. By the way, you can
check them out online at Michigan GreatLakes dot ja, dot o r G.
Bill was just referred to twenty twentytwo Michigan law requiring high school students
to complay a personal finance course beforegraduation that goes into effect this fall,
(09:09):
and it mandates all students past ahalf credit financial literacy class to graduate.
Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes is goingto be front and center for that bill.
Do we know what this is goingto look like for the typical high
school student in the state of Michigan, how this will be taught? And
it sounds to me like you're gonnahave to do this tiered in different levels,
(09:33):
right absolutely. And And you knowbottom line is is, you know,
school district can will make the decisionhow they engage how they fulfill this
requirement. So you know, someschools may decide that you know, some
of the requirements are being met throughtheir economics curriculum and therefore they're going to
(09:58):
add some supplemental activities that will helpthem fulfill the requirements. You know,
Junior Achievements is ready to provide thosesupplemental activities other school districts might want to
implement, you know, JA APersonal Finance or j A Financial Literacy.
(10:20):
UH these are these are JA FinancialLiteracy is a one semester teacher led course
you know that equips high school studentswith foundational personal financial skills. You know,
we have we have a product thatdoes that. If a school wants
something that's volunteer led, you know, we have the ability to uh to
(10:43):
provide a program that UH is UHeight classroom visits that helps them fulfill that
requirement. So so Junior Achievement hasmany different options to help school district meet
the requirements. It's not going tobe a you know, a one size
fits all. We have flexibility,We have you know, breadth of content
(11:13):
and delivery because we want to beable to with this being a state requirement,
we need to be delivering programs inthe Upper Peninsula as well as in
the inner City and everywhere in between. So the great news is our programs
are designed to do that, andwe're excited about again making these available and
(11:39):
the key you know, I thinka big part and why we're so excited
to be on your show today,Phil, is we just need to get
the word out. We need educatorsto know, you know that Junior Achievement
UH is a solution to this newrequirement and that where you know, we're
(12:01):
a local nonprofit organization staffed by localMichiganders whose expertise is in financial literacy,
work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Andyou know there are there are many organizations
in the for profit realm that youknow will offer solutions if a teacher has
a question. I mean, wehave a staff of almost thirty five people
(12:26):
here in the Michigan Great Lakes,which is which covers fifty Michigan counties,
and we have four other offices withinthe within the state of Michigan that covers
the remaining counties. But we're thereto provide teacher training. We're there to
provide support to the teachers and thevolunteers in the classroom. We put on
(12:52):
competitions for student to give them theopportunity to further apply the knowledge and information
that they received through our programming.And again we're you know, we're here
today. We'll be here tomorrow.You know, we're committed to making Michigan
a great place to call home.And most importantly, you heard Bill put
(13:16):
the call out as we wrap upour segment with Bill Kadeer, the president
and CEO of Michigan Junior Achievement excuseme, Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes.
You can learn more at Michigan GreatLakes dot ja dot org. If you
are school teacher, school administrator,get in touch with Bill and Junior Achievement
(13:37):
Michigan Great Lakes. He's been ourguest this segment on West Michigan Weekend.
Bill, thanks so much for joiningus. Hey, Phil, thank you
so much, and we appreciate theopportunity to help educate and inform Michiganders.
We did exactly that and I thinkwe did it very well. Thanks again,
(13:58):
Bill. He's been our guests onthis segment of West Michigan Weekend from
iHeartRadio Stick Around. We have morecoming up in just a moment, and
we're live here outside the Perez familyhome, just waiting for the and there
they go, almost on time.This morning. Mom is coming out the
front door strong with a double armkid carry looks like Dad has the bags.
(14:18):
Daughter is bringing up the rear.Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't
closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but mom has just nailed
the perfect car seat buckle for thetoddler. And now the eldest daughter,
who looks to be about nine orten, has secured herself in the booster
seat. Dad zips the bag closedand they're off. Ah, it looks
(14:41):
like mom doesn't realize her coffee cupis still on the roof of the car
and there it goes. Oh,that's a shame. That mug was a
fam favorite. Don't sweat the smallstuff, just nail the big stuff,
like making sure your kids are bucklecorrectly in the right seat for their agent's
eye. Learn more at NHTSA dotgo Slash the Right Seat, NHTSA dot
(15:01):
gov Slash the Right Seat. Broughtto you by NITZA and the Ad Council.
Hi, it's West Michigan Weekend fromiHeartRadio. Welcome back, Thank you
for listening, and I am yourhost, Phil Tower. Glad you're listening
across all of our iHeartRadio stations herein West Michigan. And in this segment,
it's an honor and pleasure to welcomeCarrie Eversall Singh. Carrie is the
(15:22):
executive vice president and Chief of TalentSolutions and Engagement Officer at the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation, or theme DC aswe will refer to it. In mid
April of this year, the medseed rebranded its STEM Forward programed to Steam
Ahead, and I love that acronym. Building a new internship rules that we'll
(15:46):
focus on the intersections of art,the arts and science, technology, engineering
and math careers and a lot happeningthere, especially important if you've got students
who are interested in those careers.And Carrie Eversol sing is on our live
line. Carrie, welcome to theprogram. First of all, thank you
so much, and you know,I just want to say, as a
(16:07):
mid Michigander here, just thinking aboutall of our Michiganders there in West Michigan
that suffered from the severe store recently, so just thinking of folks on that
corridor. Yes, indeed, andthank you for mentioning that. First of
all, Stem versus steam And we'regoing to do a bit of a review
here, Carrie, because STEM standsfor science technology, the E is engineering
(16:33):
and M is math. But youhave changed that acronym to update the program,
if you will, with the meDC to STEAM to include the arts.
And first of all, can youlet's back up and kind of talk
about the reasoning for expanding STEM toSTEAM and kind of broadening the pool for
(16:53):
looking at talent in these areas talentto hire. So and I would say
that you know we're not we're notnecessarily an early adopter here. As many
educators know across the state, thearts play a significant role in emerging careers,
including geographic information systems or GIS,architectural engineering, CAD design, sound
(17:19):
engineering. So when you think aboutthese emerging careers, the design element,
whether it's in the software, ifit's in a car, the design element
is so so important. And wewant to be supportive to those emerging careers
and those students that want to pursuethose pathways. And these are popular careers,
(17:41):
they're ever more popular in twenty twentyfour because technology is driving so much
of our life today. Technology,electric vehicles, I mean, semi to
conductors, it's everywhere, and especiallyadvanced techniques in manufacturing. So let's first
of all talk about the issue hereis the concern of the great talent we
(18:04):
here have here in the state ofMichigan. Kerrie graduating and going outside of
the state, this is a challengefor a lot of states, but it
is a challenge here in Michigan,and that's where this program is directly aimed
at. Correct So, you know, I definitely want to point out,
you know, in our current labormarket, not only in this state,
(18:25):
but across the country and arguably theglobe, it is incredibly competitive, incredibly
competitive to ensure that we are retainingour top talent coming out of our amazing
higher ed system. So one ofthe ways that we increase talent pools and
(18:47):
workforce numbers is really that a retentionstrategy. What we have found through research
is internships and connecting employers with studentsearlier in their educational career, the more
likely they are to stay even fourhours from where that internship was, you
(19:07):
know, and I think for whenwe look at the student point of view,
especially for gen Z, it isso critical for them to understand and
imagine what their life could look likein this job, but also testing the
culture of the company and really seeingif it's a good fit for them.
(19:29):
So it's really a win win situationfor employers and it's a win for the
state not only helping provide a mechanismfor those connections, but also gives us
a leg up when we're working onour retention of our top graduates. Yeah,
and internships are a huge part ofsteam Ahead for the medc carry because,
(19:49):
let's face it, businesses, corporations, the technology sector are all looking
for interns, interns hungry to learn, and unlike from days past, paid
internships that are very important. That'sa big focus for the steam Ahead program
is connecting employers who need these internswith the interns looking for them. This
(20:11):
is a big thing. I'm curiousif you could kind of paint a picture
for our listener, what a typicalsteam student looking for that internship. What
kinds of things are they studying.Well, we're finding many engineering students and
all facets that could be electrical,chemical, mechanical, process engineers. These
(20:33):
are all critical to advanced manufacturing andmany companies again they recognize that they identifying
interns allows them also to help identifytheir future talent pipeline and work for So
you know, there are automatically somematching happening on campuses, but we also
(20:56):
have a portal that can also beyou to lies to help identify interns.
But most of the time we findemployers have a system intact of identifying interns,
working with our amazing campuses across thestates that bring these folks in and
give them, you know, whetherit's in the summer where they could be
(21:18):
working thirty plus hours a week,to really get a sense of what that
day and a life is like thatwe all get to experience now as adults
pay the life from morning to eveningand again testing you know, who is
their supervisor, is this culture like, do they have hybrid work options?
(21:41):
Is it all on site? Dothey enjoy being on site? And it
also helps establish some soft skills,which we hear often from employers is a
necessary piece for creating a workforce thatis a best fit for them. That
you know, kids these days understandthat they need to dress appropriately for the
(22:02):
jobs, that they need to showup on time. And if it's a
customer facing role, you know howto engage with those clients if you will.
So it's just, you know,a phenomenal thing. And then I
got to tell you, I Billon a personal front, I just look
at my own learning dial which isI learn most from when I do And
(22:25):
this is what I think is socritical for again offering these internship opportunities.
Kerry, There's no question about it. The most important things I did as
a college student and then in mymaster's program with my internships, they were
very impactful. Learned a lot ofmy classes. But you're absolutely right in
saying that. And this is exciting. By the way, we're speaking with
(22:45):
Carrie Eversol saying, executive vice presidentand chief of Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer
for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.This is interesting. Your research shows that
internships can actually influence the decision wherea college graduate will decide to work and
live. That's pretty exciting, yes, and again so important to that retention
(23:07):
strategy. And it's also again we'refinding that, you know, students on
our college campuses sometimes, you know, they haven't had the opportunity to explore
our states. They may not knowwhat Marquette, Michigan looks like in the
Upper Peninsula, Traverse City in thenorthern Lower et cetera, et cetera,
(23:27):
or some you know, some folksin Southeast Michigan. Maybe they've never seen
Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids or some ofthe beautiful communities along the Michigan Lake shore
there. I just lift this upto this is something we also find important.
This is a statewide program. Employersfrom across the state can participate,
(23:48):
identify interns, bring them to theircommunity, and that opens again another venue.
This isn't again, so many peoplearen't just picking a job occupation.
Right Again, gen Z's living muchdifferent than even myself as a gen excerpt,
and definitely the boomers right their careerslook very different. They want to
(24:11):
choose where do they want to liveand do they want to have access to
a city like Grand Rapids two,or maybe they want to be close to
the lake shore so they can hitthe beach, you know after five to
do a beach walk, you know. So I just I just offer that
that the lifestyle, and this iswhat we're also communicating not only within the
(24:33):
state of Michigan but across the country, is that Michigan has everything you could
ever want to offer, you know, beautiful landscapes, we have incredible four
seasons. I know some people don'tlike our winners, but guess what,
it's beautiful and we want to justhelp articulate what is intact in our lifestyle
(24:56):
as well. On top of beingyes, we are those warm mission mid
Westerners. We're Midwest nice, Wecare about others, and you know,
we want to be welcoming to thosethat choose spending there and I leave their
life's journey, but you know,living and building a family. Here we're
talking about the DC's steam Ahead programwith Carrie Ebersol Singh, Executive VP and
(25:19):
Chief of Talent Solutions and Engagement Officerfor the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Carry've
got a couple of minutes left.How do these companies get in touch with
the students and vice versa we're talkinghere on the radio. How can we
make these important connections. Chances arethere is a company listening that needs to
be tapped into this great program.What should they do? Yeah, first
(25:42):
and foremost, check us out atMichigan Business dot org slash steam ahead.
The first step is to as anemployer that is Michigan Business dot org slash
steam Ahead. The first step forbusinesses is to process a one time application
(26:03):
to admit you into hosting internships andthen access that one one to one funding
that we offer these businesses up tofour thousand dollars for these paid internships.
So that's step one. Two iswhen if you already have interns identified through
your own process, then you youknow, you submit those as part of
(26:27):
us sponsoring those internships and setting upthe financial support. You know, these
interns will be on the payroll ofyour company, but yet you will be
receiving a check that one to onematch up to four thousand dollars. Again,
so we also set up opportunities withschools across the state to help identify
(26:52):
those perspective interns. So it's reallya one stop shop for so many employers.
Well it sounds like a great program. Want to congratulate you and your
team at the Michigan Economic Development Corporationfor the steam Ahead initiative. And I
want to give that website one moretime, Carrie, because this is the
way to connect these intern desiring studentswith these companies that are looking for them.
(27:15):
Michigan Business dot org ford slash steamdash Ahead, Michigan Business dot org
ford slash steam dash Ahead or ecan just google MEDC and steam ahead and
you will find the page. CarrieEversall, SINGH Executive vice President Chief of
Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer for theMichigan Economic Development Corporation, Carol, We've
(27:37):
learned a lot from you. Thankyou so much of your time. Thank
you here you as well. She'sbeen our guest on this segment of West
Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio. That's ourprogram for this week. Thank you so
much for tuning in. Hey,let's do this again next week, same
time, same place on this iHeartRadiostation. I'm your host, Phil Tower.
Thank you for listening. iHeart MediaWest Michigan Weekend, a public affairs programm
iHeartMedia West Michigan Weekend a public affairsprogram and it's West Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio.
Thank you so much for tuning inacross whatever iHeartRadio station here in West
Michigan you are listening to, andif you're hearing this as a podcast,
thank you for listening wherever you are. We're also on the iHeartRadio app and
I am your host, Phil Tower. Very pleased in this segment to focus
(00:27):
in on the Junior Achievement Program JuniorAchievement Michigan Great Lakes, and what an
honor it is to have Bill Codeerwith US President and CEO of Junior Achievement
Michigan Great Lakes. And we aregoing to focus primarily on a hot button
topic which a couple of years agowas signed into law by Governor Whitmer here
(00:49):
in the state of Michigan, Michiganpast the law requiring high school students to
complete a personal finance course before graduation. That's right, just a reminder that
is now a state requirement. BillKodeir is on the phone with US President
CEO Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes.Bill, first of all, thank you
and welcome to the program. Thankyou, Phil, I'm glad to be
(01:10):
here. Well, I want tofirst of all kind of do a refresher
for our listening audience. It isbroad and diverse people all across West Michigan,
young and old. A lot offolks may know, they should know,
my goodness, they should know theterm Junior Achievement, but may not
understand how Junior Achievement really works todayin twenty twenty four. And you know,
(01:34):
obviously things evolved, things change.Talk about the program overall, how
it was, was and how itis today, because you have to adapt,
Bill absolutely. Junior Achievement has beenserving the country since nineteen nineteen,
(01:56):
and here in West Michigan since nineteenfifty six. And we started out as
an after school program where high schoolstudents, working with volunteers from local businesses,
start up and ran small businesses andlearned what it really meant to be
(02:16):
an entrepreneur. And over the yearswe've developed into a organization whose purpose is
to inspire and prepare young people tosucceed in a global economy by providing concepts
(02:37):
such as financial literacy, working,career readiness, and entrepreneurship. And we
do that kindergotten through twelfth grade herein West Michigan, and we just opened
up a couple of years ago,the Heisinger Family Free Enterprise Center, which
is a state of the art experienceyour learning lab that houses the Tom Fox
(03:05):
Family Jabiztown, the Hayworth Entrepreneurship Incubator, and the Carolyn Susan Haskell JA Finance
Park. Wow, it's literally aone of a kind facility in the entire
world, and we're thrilled to haveit here in West Michigan serving kids in
(03:27):
our community. And what a greatopportunity because you know, public schools don't
do this. This is where organizationslike Junior Achievement are really instrumental. You
have a line on your website thattalks about you know your focus, And
I love this line, Bill Coderer. It says you are all about teaching
core content in the areas of workreadiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.
(03:53):
And here's the part of this sentenceI love the most, igniting the sparking
young people to experience and realize opportunities, realities of work and life in the
twenty first century. I don't knowwho wrote that, but I love it
because the key three words in theirbill are in igniting the spark. Sometimes
it just takes a little encouragement oran idea, you know, the place
(04:15):
you just talked about, and thosepartnerships are really what that's all about.
Right, Oh, absolutely. Youknow at Junior Achievement, you know,
we believe in possible, and what'spossible is to help, is to give
young people to help them discover what'spossible in their lives. And we do
(04:36):
this by helping them connect what theylearn in school with life outside the classroom
and by using role models from thecommunity. You know. One of the
things that's so interesting is we doretrospective studies on our JA alumni. Fifty
(04:58):
one percent of JA alumni are inthe same career as their JA volunteer,
So it really is a life changingopportunity when our volunteers work with the students
and share what's possible. Yeah,that's really powerful. Bill Kadeer is with
(05:19):
US President CEO of Junior Achievement MichiganGreat Lakes. You talked about working with
students from very young ages like kindergarten, first grade all the way up to
twelfth grade. How does JA getin touch with schools? I mean some.
Obviously, school districts are different,some have different programs. School Board
(05:40):
says, we've got to have adifferent focus. How does that connection happen
between Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes andschool districts across our great state of Michigan.
Absolutely well. First off, allof Junior Achievement's curriculum is correlated to
the state education standards. So wetruly are helping educators teach what needs to
(06:02):
be taught, but just doing itin a different manner, a more hands
on collaborative, uh, you knowprocess. But you know, like anything
else, we have some school districtsthat you know, embrace Junior Achievement,
reach out to us and we implementprograms in their in their school districts,
(06:25):
helping them meet specific needs. Wehave other, uh school districts where you
know, we might be in someschools but not all schools. And then
you know, there's situations where ourja A team goes out and talks to
(06:46):
educators, whether it's superintendent conferences oryou know meetings at the local is sd
s or or or reces where wewhere we're able to talk to educators about
the work that Junior achievement's doing andhow we can partner with them for them
to be more successful in what theyneed to do. And really and really
(07:13):
that is how this whole financial literacyrequirement. You know, we were very
supportive of having this requirement because wereally feel it so critical for all students
to understand how to manage their ownpersonal finances. And when the governor passed
(07:35):
and put us into law, youknow who better than an organization that financial
literacy has been a focus, aprimary focus since the fifties here in West
Michigan. And so you know,in response to that new high school graduation
(07:57):
requirement, you know, we're steppingup up to help schools and students meet
this requirement by utilizing the resources andexperience and ja curriculum that we have locally,
regionally, across the state and throughour national offices. And you know,
we're really excited about the work thatwe're doing in partnership with with the
(08:24):
Michigan Department of Education. We're youknow, collaborating with other organizations, and
you know, with the number onegoal is to prepare our students, you
know, to provide them with theskill set and the mindset to build thriving
communities right here in Michigan. We'respeaking with Bill Cadare. He is president
(08:48):
and CEO of Junior Achievement Michigan GreatLakes. By the way, you can
check them out online at Michigan GreatLakes dot ja, dot o r G.
Bill was just referred to twenty twentytwo Michigan law requiring high school students
to complay a personal finance course beforegraduation that goes into effect this fall,
(09:09):
and it mandates all students past ahalf credit financial literacy class to graduate.
Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes is goingto be front and center for that bill.
Do we know what this is goingto look like for the typical high
school student in the state of Michigan, how this will be taught? And
it sounds to me like you're gonnahave to do this tiered in different levels,
(09:33):
right absolutely. And And you knowbottom line is is, you know,
school district can will make the decisionhow they engage how they fulfill this
requirement. So you know, someschools may decide that you know, some
of the requirements are being met throughtheir economics curriculum and therefore they're going to
(09:58):
add some supplemental activities that will helpthem fulfill the requirements. You know,
Junior Achievements is ready to provide thosesupplemental activities other school districts might want to
implement, you know, JA APersonal Finance or j A Financial Literacy.
(10:20):
UH these are these are JA FinancialLiteracy is a one semester teacher led course
you know that equips high school studentswith foundational personal financial skills. You know,
we have we have a product thatdoes that. If a school wants
something that's volunteer led, you know, we have the ability to uh to
(10:43):
provide a program that UH is UHeight classroom visits that helps them fulfill that
requirement. So so Junior Achievement hasmany different options to help school district meet
the requirements. It's not going tobe a you know, a one size
fits all. We have flexibility,We have you know, breadth of content
(11:13):
and delivery because we want to beable to with this being a state requirement,
we need to be delivering programs inthe Upper Peninsula as well as in
the inner City and everywhere in between. So the great news is our programs
are designed to do that, andwe're excited about again making these available and
(11:39):
the key you know, I thinka big part and why we're so excited
to be on your show today,Phil, is we just need to get
the word out. We need educatorsto know, you know that Junior Achievement
UH is a solution to this newrequirement and that where you know, we're
(12:01):
a local nonprofit organization staffed by localMichiganders whose expertise is in financial literacy,
work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Andyou know there are there are many organizations
in the for profit realm that youknow will offer solutions if a teacher has
a question. I mean, wehave a staff of almost thirty five people
(12:26):
here in the Michigan Great Lakes,which is which covers fifty Michigan counties,
and we have four other offices withinthe within the state of Michigan that covers
the remaining counties. But we're thereto provide teacher training. We're there to
provide support to the teachers and thevolunteers in the classroom. We put on
(12:52):
competitions for student to give them theopportunity to further apply the knowledge and information
that they received through our programming.And again we're you know, we're here
today. We'll be here tomorrow.You know, we're committed to making Michigan
a great place to call home.And most importantly, you heard Bill put
(13:16):
the call out as we wrap upour segment with Bill Kadeer, the president
and CEO of Michigan Junior Achievement excuseme, Junior Achievement Michigan Great Lakes.
You can learn more at Michigan GreatLakes dot ja dot org. If you
are school teacher, school administrator,get in touch with Bill and Junior Achievement
(13:37):
Michigan Great Lakes. He's been ourguest this segment on West Michigan Weekend.
Bill, thanks so much for joiningus. Hey, Phil, thank you
so much, and we appreciate theopportunity to help educate and inform Michiganders.
We did exactly that and I thinkwe did it very well. Thanks again,
(13:58):
Bill. He's been our guests onthis segment of West Michigan Weekend from
iHeartRadio Stick Around. We have morecoming up in just a moment, and
we're live here outside the Perez familyhome, just waiting for the and there
they go, almost on time.This morning. Mom is coming out the
front door strong with a double armkid carry looks like Dad has the bags.
(14:18):
Daughter is bringing up the rear.Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't
closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but mom has just nailed
the perfect car seat buckle for thetoddler. And now the eldest daughter,
who looks to be about nine orten, has secured herself in the booster
seat. Dad zips the bag closedand they're off. Ah, it looks
(14:41):
like mom doesn't realize her coffee cupis still on the roof of the car
and there it goes. Oh,that's a shame. That mug was a
fam favorite. Don't sweat the smallstuff, just nail the big stuff,
like making sure your kids are bucklecorrectly in the right seat for their agent's
eye. Learn more at NHTSA dotgo Slash the Right Seat, NHTSA dot
(15:01):
gov Slash the Right Seat. Broughtto you by NITZA and the Ad Council.
Hi, it's West Michigan Weekend fromiHeartRadio. Welcome back, Thank you
for listening, and I am yourhost, Phil Tower. Glad you're listening
across all of our iHeartRadio stations herein West Michigan. And in this segment,
it's an honor and pleasure to welcomeCarrie Eversall Singh. Carrie is the
(15:22):
executive vice president and Chief of TalentSolutions and Engagement Officer at the Michigan Economic
Development Corporation, or theme DC aswe will refer to it. In mid
April of this year, the medseed rebranded its STEM Forward programed to Steam
Ahead, and I love that acronym. Building a new internship rules that we'll
(15:46):
focus on the intersections of art,the arts and science, technology, engineering
and math careers and a lot happeningthere, especially important if you've got students
who are interested in those careers.And Carrie Eversol sing is on our live
line. Carrie, welcome to theprogram. First of all, thank you
so much, and you know,I just want to say, as a
(16:07):
mid Michigander here, just thinking aboutall of our Michiganders there in West Michigan
that suffered from the severe store recently, so just thinking of folks on that
corridor. Yes, indeed, andthank you for mentioning that. First of
all, Stem versus steam And we'regoing to do a bit of a review
here, Carrie, because STEM standsfor science technology, the E is engineering
(16:33):
and M is math. But youhave changed that acronym to update the program,
if you will, with the meDC to STEAM to include the arts.
And first of all, can youlet's back up and kind of talk
about the reasoning for expanding STEM toSTEAM and kind of broadening the pool for
(16:53):
looking at talent in these areas talentto hire. So and I would say
that you know we're not we're notnecessarily an early adopter here. As many
educators know across the state, thearts play a significant role in emerging careers,
including geographic information systems or GIS,architectural engineering, CAD design, sound
(17:19):
engineering. So when you think aboutthese emerging careers, the design element,
whether it's in the software, ifit's in a car, the design element
is so so important. And wewant to be supportive to those emerging careers
and those students that want to pursuethose pathways. And these are popular careers,
(17:41):
they're ever more popular in twenty twentyfour because technology is driving so much
of our life today. Technology,electric vehicles, I mean, semi to
conductors, it's everywhere, and especiallyadvanced techniques in manufacturing. So let's first
of all talk about the issue hereis the concern of the great talent we
(18:04):
here have here in the state ofMichigan. Kerrie graduating and going outside of
the state, this is a challengefor a lot of states, but it
is a challenge here in Michigan,and that's where this program is directly aimed
at. Correct So, you know, I definitely want to point out,
you know, in our current labormarket, not only in this state,
(18:25):
but across the country and arguably theglobe, it is incredibly competitive, incredibly
competitive to ensure that we are retainingour top talent coming out of our amazing
higher ed system. So one ofthe ways that we increase talent pools and
(18:47):
workforce numbers is really that a retentionstrategy. What we have found through research
is internships and connecting employers with studentsearlier in their educational career, the more
likely they are to stay even fourhours from where that internship was, you
(19:07):
know, and I think for whenwe look at the student point of view,
especially for gen Z, it isso critical for them to understand and
imagine what their life could look likein this job, but also testing the
culture of the company and really seeingif it's a good fit for them.
(19:29):
So it's really a win win situationfor employers and it's a win for the
state not only helping provide a mechanismfor those connections, but also gives us
a leg up when we're working onour retention of our top graduates. Yeah,
and internships are a huge part ofsteam Ahead for the medc carry because,
(19:49):
let's face it, businesses, corporations, the technology sector are all looking
for interns, interns hungry to learn, and unlike from days past, paid
internships that are very important. That'sa big focus for the steam Ahead program
is connecting employers who need these internswith the interns looking for them. This
(20:11):
is a big thing. I'm curiousif you could kind of paint a picture
for our listener, what a typicalsteam student looking for that internship. What
kinds of things are they studying.Well, we're finding many engineering students and
all facets that could be electrical,chemical, mechanical, process engineers. These
(20:33):
are all critical to advanced manufacturing andmany companies again they recognize that they identifying
interns allows them also to help identifytheir future talent pipeline and work for So
you know, there are automatically somematching happening on campuses, but we also
(20:56):
have a portal that can also beyou to lies to help identify interns.
But most of the time we findemployers have a system intact of identifying interns,
working with our amazing campuses across thestates that bring these folks in and
give them, you know, whetherit's in the summer where they could be
(21:18):
working thirty plus hours a week,to really get a sense of what that
day and a life is like thatwe all get to experience now as adults
pay the life from morning to eveningand again testing you know, who is
their supervisor, is this culture like, do they have hybrid work options?
(21:41):
Is it all on site? Dothey enjoy being on site? And it
also helps establish some soft skills,which we hear often from employers is a
necessary piece for creating a workforce thatis a best fit for them. That
you know, kids these days understandthat they need to dress appropriately for the
(22:02):
jobs, that they need to showup on time. And if it's a
customer facing role, you know howto engage with those clients if you will.
So it's just, you know,a phenomenal thing. And then I
got to tell you, I Billon a personal front, I just look
at my own learning dial which isI learn most from when I do And
(22:25):
this is what I think is socritical for again offering these internship opportunities.
Kerry, There's no question about it. The most important things I did as
a college student and then in mymaster's program with my internships, they were
very impactful. Learned a lot ofmy classes. But you're absolutely right in
saying that. And this is exciting. By the way, we're speaking with
(22:45):
Carrie Eversol saying, executive vice presidentand chief of Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer
for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.This is interesting. Your research shows that
internships can actually influence the decision wherea college graduate will decide to work and
live. That's pretty exciting, yes, and again so important to that retention
(23:07):
strategy. And it's also again we'refinding that, you know, students on
our college campuses sometimes, you know, they haven't had the opportunity to explore
our states. They may not knowwhat Marquette, Michigan looks like in the
Upper Peninsula, Traverse City in thenorthern Lower et cetera, et cetera,
(23:27):
or some you know, some folksin Southeast Michigan. Maybe they've never seen
Kalamazoo or Grand Rapids or some ofthe beautiful communities along the Michigan Lake shore
there. I just lift this upto this is something we also find important.
This is a statewide program. Employersfrom across the state can participate,
(23:48):
identify interns, bring them to theircommunity, and that opens again another venue.
This isn't again, so many peoplearen't just picking a job occupation.
Right Again, gen Z's living muchdifferent than even myself as a gen excerpt,
and definitely the boomers right their careerslook very different. They want to
(24:11):
choose where do they want to liveand do they want to have access to
a city like Grand Rapids two,or maybe they want to be close to
the lake shore so they can hitthe beach, you know after five to
do a beach walk, you know. So I just I just offer that
that the lifestyle, and this iswhat we're also communicating not only within the
(24:33):
state of Michigan but across the country, is that Michigan has everything you could
ever want to offer, you know, beautiful landscapes, we have incredible four
seasons. I know some people don'tlike our winners, but guess what,
it's beautiful and we want to justhelp articulate what is intact in our lifestyle
(24:56):
as well. On top of beingyes, we are those warm mission mid
Westerners. We're Midwest nice, Wecare about others, and you know,
we want to be welcoming to thosethat choose spending there and I leave their
life's journey, but you know,living and building a family. Here we're
talking about the DC's steam Ahead programwith Carrie Ebersol Singh, Executive VP and
(25:19):
Chief of Talent Solutions and Engagement Officerfor the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Carry've
got a couple of minutes left.How do these companies get in touch with
the students and vice versa we're talkinghere on the radio. How can we
make these important connections. Chances arethere is a company listening that needs to
be tapped into this great program.What should they do? Yeah, first
(25:42):
and foremost, check us out atMichigan Business dot org slash steam ahead.
The first step is to as anemployer that is Michigan Business dot org slash
steam Ahead. The first step forbusinesses is to process a one time application
(26:03):
to admit you into hosting internships andthen access that one one to one funding
that we offer these businesses up tofour thousand dollars for these paid internships.
So that's step one. Two iswhen if you already have interns identified through
your own process, then you youknow, you submit those as part of
(26:27):
us sponsoring those internships and setting upthe financial support. You know, these
interns will be on the payroll ofyour company, but yet you will be
receiving a check that one to onematch up to four thousand dollars. Again,
so we also set up opportunities withschools across the state to help identify
(26:52):
those perspective interns. So it's reallya one stop shop for so many employers.
Well it sounds like a great program. Want to congratulate you and your
team at the Michigan Economic Development Corporationfor the steam Ahead initiative. And I
want to give that website one moretime, Carrie, because this is the
way to connect these intern desiring studentswith these companies that are looking for them.
(27:15):
Michigan Business dot org ford slash steamdash Ahead, Michigan Business dot org
ford slash steam dash Ahead or ecan just google MEDC and steam ahead and
you will find the page. CarrieEversall, SINGH Executive vice President Chief of
Talent Solutions and Engagement Officer for theMichigan Economic Development Corporation, Carol, We've
(27:37):
learned a lot from you. Thankyou so much of your time. Thank
you here you as well. She'sbeen our guest on this segment of West
Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio. That's ourprogram for this week. Thank you so
much for tuning in. Hey,let's do this again next week, same
time, same place on this iHeartRadiostation. I'm your host, Phil Tower.
Thank you for listening. iHeart MediaWest Michigan Weekend, a public affairs programm
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