The Greater Peoria career exploration experience, CareerSpark, a collaboration of Junior Achievement of Central Illinois1 (JA) and the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council (GPEDC), offers 8th-grade students a hands-on experience to engage directly with local employers and learn about a variety of career clusters and occupations. The experience is offered each fall at no cost to schools2 to help students make informed decisions as they transition to high school and empower them to pursue in-demand regional careers.
This case study will explore how the CareerSpark model:
To accommodate nearly 4,000 students, the Greater Peoria CareerSpark event occurs over two days and is hosted at the Peoria Civic Center. To support students in understanding the different types of occupations within a given industry, the event is organized into zones based on the eight most in-demand career clusters in Greater Peoria (which are also aligned to the seven College and Career Pathway Endorsement areas), each representing a range of pathways and careers. Students are divided into groups of roughly 250 to ensure they have space to explore, and groups rotate through all the zones. Each student has exposure to the nearly 150 different careers showcased at the event.
Employer branding at the event is minimal. The focus is on exposing students to high-growth, living-wage careers rather than promoting specific employers.
GPEDC and JA handle logistics for Greater Peoria CareerSpark, including securing sponsors, managing funding, and coordinating communication with schools, employers, and the more than 500 volunteers who join as industry representatives or general volunteers. Employers and schools are also actively involved in supporting the event design and implementation. Roles before and during the event include:
Each zone is overseen by one to three co-chairs who are primarily industry representatives responsible for recruiting employers to participate. In collaboration with JA and GPEDC, co-chairs carefully determine which careers they want to showcase that represent in-demand, high-growth, living-wage positions in the region to guide their industry partner recruitment efforts. To ensure industry representatives are well-prepared for the event, co-chairs coach them on what to expect and how to create impactful experiences that demonstrate what their roles entail in an interactive way. Co-chairs share an overview video of the event to help them visualize the high level of interaction that takes place.
Co-chairs emphasize that Greater Peoria CareerSpark is not a job fair, so industry partners should bring professionals who actively work in the roles rather than human resources staff.
Kim Stewart, the Community Outreach Coordinator for Carle Health and co-chair of the Healthcare Industry Zone at Greater Peoria CareerSpark, is an active industry partner who works with healthcare companies across the region and is frequently the face of telling other partners why they should volunteer with the event. She begins recruiting in June for the October event, coordinating with both large and smaller companies to ensure a diverse range of roles and partners are represented. Kim participates in monthly meetings with the Greater Peoria CareerSpark team, ramping up to weekly meetings the month before the event to address logistics and ensure all necessary roles are filled. After the event, Kim gathers feedback from participating healthcare companies to continuously improve future experiences.
Communication materials Kim uses as a co-chair:
Industry volunteers represent their respective career fields or jobs in the related zone. They guide students in completing the activity for their booth and answer questions related to their role and industry. Industry volunteers design, set up, staff, and tear down their displays and activities.
Tour guides lead their assigned school group to designated start zones and facilitate smooth transitions between industry zones every 30 minutes. They monitor student engagement to redirect as needed and coordinate with school chaperones to distribute materials. Each guide works independently with their school group while collaborating with approximately 14 other guides overseeing different schools during each session. To learn more about the tour guide role, view the tour guide instructions.
Bus Greeters greet each school, provide them with student booklets, hand each student a drawstring backpack in the assigned school color and an activity card, and connect them with a tour guide who will lead them to their start zone. Each bus has a lead school chaperone who works directly with the greeter to help distribute materials. To learn more about the bus greeter role, view the bus greeter instructions.
Zone monitors ensure students do not enter or leave a zone until it is time to rotate and to help facilitate orderly zone rotations. They are an extra layer of support for tour guides, schools, volunteers, and students to ensure all needs are met and questions answered. To learn more about the zone monitor role, view the zone monitor instructions.
During the event, volunteers and coordinating staff wear brightly colored Greater Peoria CareerSpark shirts so that attendees can visibly see who to turn to with any questions or needs. Industry volunteers dress in their typical work attire to give an authentic representation of their role.
Before the event, JA staff provide participating teachers with important logistical information to help them prepare. Teachers are also equipped with curricular resources and activities through the JA Inspire program, designed to help students gain a deeper understanding of the career clusters they will explore and develop an action plan with what they have learned.
The Greater Peoria CareerSpark event supports schools and students to meet the requirements of the middle school Illinois PaCE Framework by engaging 8th grade students in a career exploration day and providing reflective materials to explore career clusters. The JA Inspire program also supports PaCE requirements by providing activities for students to articulate aspirations, understand a growth mindset, and compare possible futures.
GPEDC and JA gather participant feedback and monitor key performance indicators for Peoria CareerSpark each year, as well as explore labor market information for the region. These data help the partners evolve the event in numerous ways, from improving logistics to refining student experiences at the booths to introducing new jobs based on student interests and regional workforce demands.
For example, Based on student feedback from 2023, they upgraded the technology zone with more simulations and robots, which proved highly popular. In 2024, GPEDC and JA added cosmetology careers for the first time based on student and teacher interest. While regional labor market data doesn’t list this as a high-growth, living wage job, the career does offer flexibility and the opportunity to become a small-business owner. At the event, students lined up for the chance to practice hair coloring and styling skills on mannequins. Due to the overwhelming popularity, the booth will return in 2025.
To share what they’re learning, the GPEDC team is building a library of hands-on activities accessible to schools and organizations interested in integrating similar experiences into their own career exploration efforts.
Each year, students complete pre- and post-event surveys, which reveal meaningful outcomes such as:
From these surveys, GPEDC and JA have learned that students generally find the event engaging and informative, particularly for insights into industries students hadn’t considered before the event. Students appreciate the chance to be creative, such as trying out a 3D pen, learning practical skills, such as CPR and money counting, and hands-on experiences, such as simulated surgery, exploring pig anatomy, welding, and interacting with a robot dog.
"I liked the one where we were able to see what you can do while working in architecture and construction. I loved when I was able to drill a screw into a board."
"I liked when I could practice being a teacher and answer questions."
“I learned a lot of new things in the agriculture section, and all of them were pretty impressive and so much more important than I thought.”
The Greater Peoria CareerSpark program successfully engages 8th grade students in hands-on, interactive career exploration. It provides a meaningful platform for students to connect with industry mentors, visualize their futures, and make informed decisions about their academic and career paths. The program’s focus on active community collaboration and continuous refinement, including adding emerging careers and capturing the hands-on activities in a library accessible to community partners, ensures it remains relevant and impactful.
How will you incorporate some of these innovative strategies into your next career exploration event?
Thank you to the teams at Junior Achievement of Central Illinois and the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council for your collaboration on this case study.
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