JA Alumni Spotlight - Karina Rodriguez

Junior Achievement recently had an opportunity to interview JA Alumni Karina Rodriguez, who currently lives in Spring, TX, with her husband and two sons. Karina was excited to share her JA story.

Her first experience with JA was at BB Rice Elementary and remembers waiting anxiously for a JA volunteer to come to her classroom. The games and activities were always so much fun. Karina also has fond memories of her visits to BizTown. While at BizTown, she remembers working in the bank and at the restaurant and often wondered if that played a part in working in a bank and restaurant before becoming a nurse.

When asked if she had ever had the opportunity to reconnect with her JA volunteers, she said no. But given a chance, she would say, “thank you for taking time out of your day to spend with my class and for making my school day fun with all the JA activities.” She would also share how their volunteering brightened her day and significantly impacted her path in life. She felt inspired by her volunteers always to go above and beyond. After becoming a registered nurse, Karina decided to go back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner and is thankful for the life skills learned through JA at such a young age.

When asked what inspiring words she would like to share with students currently receiving JA in their classroom, she said, “I would tell them to listen closely to the JA lessons/skills that the volunteer is teaching as they will come in handy in life.” Karina said, “I would also express the importance of thanking their volunteer for spending the day with them.”

Junior Achievement would like to thank Karina Rodriguez for sharing her JA experience and our JA volunteers for their time and dedication in Inspiring Tomorrows for students!

By: Becky Neeley