Jovial Futures
Sparking a Path to College and Career
Mission
To support the future youth in our community by providing the skills and experience necessary for college and career.
The Colorado Gap
Colorado suffers from an unequal balance of trade in terms of its talent. While the Rocky Mountain state ranks near the top in the number of residents with a college degree, it comes in nearly last in number of students who complete college. Nearly half of its residents with college degrees are transplants from other states. For every 10 students that graduate high school in Colorado, just two will go on to finish college.
Did you know?
GRADUATION
1 in 4 high school students in Colorado won’t graduate on time.
DROP OUTS
15,000 high school students in Colorado drop out each year.
COMPLETION
42% of undergraduates in Colorado won’t finish in 4-6 years.
INCOME
An average dropout will make $10k a year less than a high school graduate and $36k less each year than someone with a bachelor’s degree.
How can Jovial Futures help?
Jovial Futures supports kids from Wheat Ridge 5-8 and Jefferson High School in Wheat Ridge CO through academic and experiential education programming. We discover student’s passions, partner them with established professionals who share their interests, offer volunteer opportunities, internships, homework and organizational support, and so much more. By age 18, youth in our program will have improved academically, applied for scholarships, worked in their community, and embarked on a path of success.
The Futures program launched in 2014 with a trial group of 13 students! In 2015 our numbers have more than doubled!
Jovial Futures is applying 50 years of research from the Search Institute for adolescent development via the creation of a powerful network of educational youth camps, experiential education programs, mentorships, internships, service learning, and career placement.
Our program will help close the gap that keeps Colorado from growing its own professional talent by:
Finding a “Spark”
The first step in Jovial Futures is finding a child’s “Sparks” – the interests and passions young people have that light a fire in their lives and express the essence of who they are and what they offer to the world.
Research results strongly suggest that having at least one spark, plus the support to develop it, is significantly and consistently related to having better outcomes, both in behavior and academics. Students with sparks tend to be, and to feel, healthier. They tend to be less depressed, less worried, and more satisfied overall. They place greater importance on being connected to school and making contributions to society, which are factors strongly related to school success indicators such as academic confidence and grades. Helping young people identify their sparks, and providing them the opportunity to develop those interests, appear to be important additions to academic educational methods and help students achieve school success.
SPARK
“The internal animating force that propels development forward.”
The Jovial Futures Breakdown
The Jovial Futures initiative is a unique four step program that works with youth from age 12 until adulthood.
- The first step in our program is engaging the children and finding out their passions, level of emotional development, current experiences, support systems, community involvement, and the best opportunities within our network. Jovial Concepts is working with teachers, social workers, education design professionals, parents, and the Search Institute staff to create the most accurate evaluation as possible.
- Once we have pinpointed a student’s “spark” or “sparks” students continue to meet once a week with the Jovial Futures after-school club. During club hours students share their “sparks”, create new friendships, are encouraged to try new things while respecting differences. Our students understand the benefits of having unique talents, start their college/professional network, partake in community service, embark on career focused field trips and college visits, and are introduced to career minded professionals in all career fields.
- The next step is supporting students academically. All of our students must map out career paths related to their sparks. They must budget for their hobbies and look at the statistical income differences of those who attend college, those who do not, and those who drop out of high-school. Students are taught how to utilize their sparks when doing school work, helping their community, and applying for jobs and college. Additionally we offer all our students:
- Organizational Skill Training
- Homework Support
- Budget and Credit Counseling
- Service Learning Opportunities
- Resume Building and Writing
- Internships
- Job Placement
- Possible College Scholarships
- Having the support of the community is highly beneficial to the development of a child’s identity and values. When we set good examples and invest in our youth, children are better able to gauge their importance as well as their role in society. The last step of Futures is partnering each of our students with a career minded professional for long term one-on-one mentoring. Students and Mentors participate in spark, academic, and career related activities. Students meet with their mentor at least 2 times each month for 1 year. Relationship will continue as long as both mentor and student find the relationship supportive and beneficial.
Program Impact and Tracking
After presenting the Jovial Futures program to many organizations and schools, we are confident this program will be a success. Our partners truly believe we have found a unique niche in supporting the work of parents and schools through much needed extracurricular activities. College in Colorado has graciously offered to donate $100 per student in impact tracking and research. This partnership will allow Jovial Concepts to monitor a student’s attendance and academic performance from before and after Jovial Futures. We will also have students retake the Search Institutes’ DAP survey once per year in order to monitor improvement in the 40 assets.
Having basic knowledge of the student’s relationships, passions, attitude, involvement, and academic success allows our mentors and partners to pinpoint the needs of each child. Our unique program gives them the relationships, support, and guidance to help them excel in high school, through college, and into a successful career.
Wheatridge 5-8 7th & 8th Graders
Enroll Today!
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[/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end]Donate to Help At-Risk Youth
Youth Career Building Opportunities
Jovial Futures supports at-risk kids from Wheat Ridge 5-8 and Jefferson High School in Wheat Ridge CO through academic and experiential education programming. We discover student’s passions, team them up with mentors who share their interests, offer volunteer opportunities, internships, homework and organizational support, and so much more. By age 18, youth in our program will have improved academically, applied for scholarships, worked in their community, and embarked on a path of success.
