Over 3,000 students attend hands-on learning experience at the Wicomico Civic Center Tuesday

SALISBURY, Md.- Whether it’s visiting the NASA station or the robotic station, students dove deep into learning Tuesday at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center.  Junior Achievement Eastern Shore held their “JA Inspire” event with 3,500 students attending, with students coming from Worcester, Wicomico, Somerset, Dorchester, Caroline, Talbot, and Accomack Counties.

“We chose 8th grade because this is right before their pathway, but having COVID over the past couple years, this human interaction is so important for the students to have some opportunity to meet businesses that are right in their backyard,” Jayme Hayes, President of JA Eastern Shore, said.

Hayes students have a few lessons prior to this event to get them thinking about future careers.

“The students have started to learn about do they like working with people, do you like working with your hands and then when they arrive today they get to go through and do all of the hands on highly immersive experiences,” Hayes said.

And with the day finally here, students say the journey through the civic center was worth while.

“It feels inspiring to be here and learn something about what we are doing today,” Dion Edmonds, a Mace’s Lane Middle School student, said.

“Going to the different stations, they tell you about the diplomas you need, the salary you can get and the different job positions that you can have, and it’s really interesting to see all the different ones and it helps me a lot to plan my future and see what I wanna do when I get older,” Amara Hankerson, a Washington High School & Academy student, said.

For 14-year-old, Zachary Bozman, he told us before the event his focus was to be a lawyer. But, he now realizes the world is filled with opportunities.

“Ya know when I came in I noticed that there are all these different options that really made me understand that I shouldn’t get so dead set on one thing; and so now I’m really looking into some of these things I’ve always thought engineering is very interesting,” Bozman said.

While this event is proving to catch the eye of many 8th graders, JA hopes to expand and add a High School component with internships and apprenticeships.