JA Volunteer Spotlight: Carol Bernhard

What has been your most rewarding moment with a students at JA BizTown? Or, has there been a series of moments that made you realize that you’ve made an impact?

I like watching the kids persevere. It’s really invigorating to see kids fail and then bounce back to figure it out. There’s no right or wrong way of doing things necessarily — true failure is when you just stop, when you just give up. You don’t even have to feel like a ‘failure’ really; you can just say to yourself, “hey I figured out a way not to do that”. The biggest ‘aha moment’ for me was hearing my daughter say (as she came home from JA BizTown) “wow, adulting is hard!” The day is so fast paced and you need to get so much done during the day and you don’t always get to be perfect and some day’s tasks will spill over into tomorrow. Kids learn to be more agile, more self-forgiving, and they learn to fail without it being negative.

What do you think is missing from contemporary education that JA is providing and how do you think this will impact the lifetime achievement of the people who experience this coursework?

I think anything ‘extra’ — whether it is exposure to extra perspectives or and extra pair of eyes, or actual extracurricular activities that deviate from their core education and nurture their curiosities. The extra stuff sparks further engagement; kids start to think to themselves, “Gee this was really interesting, I’d like to learn more about this”. When kids gain the understanding that there are many paths to success — allowing young people who come from school districts that are struggling with small budgets and large classrooms and with limited resources, or maybe they come from a difficult home life or they have some other disadvantages that they are dealing with — they can be inspired to ‘go for it’. When kids can go someplace and see something that isn’t just like their ‘everyday typical scenario’, it’s like a mental reset moment. I love that the kids can learn about the world and see a new path, a new potential unfold in front of them, and begin to believe that their dreams are attainable. When kids can visualize a path forward then small goals become bigger goals.

I firmly believe that education (in a traditional sense) is not what keeps kids in school. Kids want to go to school because there are opportunities for them to grow in ways that are unique and perhaps special to them. Sometimes it’s art, or sport, or band, or theater, or clubs that make them want to get up in the morning and go to school. When I was in LA this became so apparent to me — I really wish America would stop cutting enrichment programs, after-school programs, and vocational programs! Actually, when I was in LA I taught high school-level personal finance students who were in shelters. The kids end up in shelters for a variety of reasons, and for about half of them, completing HS wasn’t even a viable option. They’re in survival mode. It was important to me that I could help these kids learn how to make sound financial decisions and how to work within our economy.

Do you have a memorable moment with a student or group of students?

I think it’s the moments with students who don’t see a future — the ones who are trying so hard to deal with uncertainty in their ‘tomorrow’ that they just getting through ‘today’ — I love giving them hope. These kids can just take this one program and be inspired. Even in a digital society, where information is readily available, kids will still struggle to understand their spending habits and how to make personal goals. When they have an opportunity to learn from an experience (like at JA BizTown) it’s so engaging and so memorable that kids start to consider their futures differently and even begin to consider opening savings accounts! The kids that I’m helping are learning how to think beyond ‘today’.

What’s the best part of volunteering?

I don’t think that anyone volunteers just for the sake of volunteering. I do it because I’m currently not working but I still want my kids to see me continuously contributing. I have a disability but I’m still active in the community. I want others to see that disabled doesn’t mean unable; it just means that I take a different path. It also gives me a sense of purpose, especially when kids say “thank you”. The payoff of volunteering is giving something of yourself to others.

Interview by Andrea Vidovic
Previously published on Medium.com