Iowa City schools’ new Junior Achievement Dream Accelerator a place for every student to ‘dream boldly’

IOWA CITY — Elise Good, a junior at City High School, wants to “help change the world.”

At 17 years old, Good isn’t sure how her interests, strengths and passions align with career opportunities where she could make a positive impact on people.

The Iowa City Community School District’s new Junior Achievement Dream Accelerator has the potential to change that for Good and students like her through the immersive career exploration program.

The district cut ribbon Thursday on the $2.1 million space at the Center for Innovation, located at 301 ACT Dr. in Iowa City, where students will be able to explore careers and develop a plan to pursue a meaningful career and future.

“It’s to help kids get a better understanding of what they might want to do in their future and what classes they can take in high school to reach their goals,” Good said.

More than 1,000 ninth-graders in the Iowa City district will experience the Dream Accelerator this academic year. In future years, fifth- and seventh-graders will get the opportunity to participate.

Funding for construction costs came from the district’s Secure an Advanced Vision for Education, a capital projects fund of statewide sales tax revenue allocated by the state of Iowa to school districts based on certified enrollment.

The Dream Accelerator is integrated into the district’s Earth and space science curriculum, Iowa City schools Superintendent Matt Degner said. Students begin with seven lessons in the classroom where they explore their interests and aptitudes, mapping out possible career paths.

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Then they come to the Dream Accelerator where “role play and real world decision making” helps them connect their strengths and interests to potential careers, Degner said. After participating in the Dream Accelerator, data from each student’s experience will be given to school guidance counselors so they can work with students to plan for the rest of their high school career and future educational or work opportunities.

“By completing these lessons and the simulation, we guarantee that 100 percent of our students who participate receive a work-based learning credit and industry recognized credential. Both of these are used when measuring post secondary readiness on the Iowa School Performance Profile. The aim is simple — help every student see a path forward and understand the next steps to get there,” Degner said.

Uniah Palmer, 16, a junior at West High School, said the Dream Accelerator will help students explore what they want to be when they grow up.

“I think that’s pretty cool because I expect a lot from myself … I’m very interested,” said Palmer, who already is earning college credit studying criminal justice at Kirkwood Community College

The Iowa City district is the second in the nation to open a Dream Accelerator. The first Dream Accelerator — located outside Denver, Colorado — opened just over two years ago.

Christine Landa, president of Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, said the Dream Accelerator is “cutting edge” and will be a place where dreams are discovered and students “build confidence in their future.”

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It’s a “promise that every student deserves to dream boldly, to discover their strengths and to see a future that truly reflects who they are. It is a promise that this community is willing to invest in their aspirations and surround them with the support needed to make those dreams tangible,” Landa said.

Nate Klein, Vice President for Education at Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, said students Thursday “walked through the door just in awe of what the school has invested in them.”

Klein said the Dream Accelerator will help students “reality check” their future by helping them gain a greater understanding of how their lifestyle, interests and strengths might or might not match their career of choice.

Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa is investing an estimated $1.2 million in staffing and programming support to the program and other Junior Achievement programming. It also will bring $1.5 million in asset and software intellectual property design to the district.

Iowa City schools will pay for Junior Achievement curriculum costs from the district’s general fund.

Junior Achievement is a nonprofit with more than 100 area offices across the nation — including Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa — dedicated to equipping students with the knowledge and skills they need to plan for their futures. Junior Achievement has programs in core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

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Greg Stratton, 16, a junior at Liberty High School, said the Dream Accelerator might have helped him align his elective classes to his career interests if he had the chance to participate in the opportunity as a ninth-grader.

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Stratton, who is interested in a career in agriculture sciences or the military, said he doesn’t want to “sit behind a desk” and work.

The Dream Accelerator “I think can help me figure out what I might want to do,” he said.

The Center for Innovation also houses Kirkwood Community College classes and a new Iowa City district welcome center available to families.

“By offering these academies here, we make post secondary learning more accessible and closer, helping students build skills and make informed decisions about their future,” Degner said.

The welcome center is a place for school registration to support families who are new to the district and current families who need assistance, Degner said.

Families can register for school, get their questions answered, set up school tours and connect with school and community resources at the welcome center, which will reduce “barriers to building relationships,” Degner said.

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