JA Job Shadow and Student Career Exploration in Maine

Image caption: Middle schoolers learn on-the-job skills at Capozza Floor Covering Center

JA Job Shadows bridge the gap between classroom learning and the working world. They allow students to move beyond imagining careers and instead experience them, seeing firsthand how skills learned in school translate into meaningful work.

JA Maine has seen significant growth in its JA Job Shadow experiences - both the variety of participating companies and the range of career pathways explored. In the 2025-2026 school year, JA Maine worked with twenty-six companies to highlight careers students may not have exposure to otherwise. JA partnered with businesses from the community where students were able to shadow departments within:

Aroma Joe’s
Braincube
Canopy Hotel
Capozza Flooring
Central Maine Power
Dead River Company
Diversified Communications
Holiday Inn by the Bay
IDEXX
Landry/French Construction
Luke’s Lobster
MaineHealth
Maine Trust for Local News
MEMIC
Mornings in Paris
Mercedes-Benz of Scarborough
Northeast Bank
Northern Light Health
Patrons Oxford Insurance
Paul White
Portland Downtown
Portland Sea Dogs
Rowe Ford
Town of Standish
United Way
Unum
WRBC

Image caption: MEMIC shares the range of career opportunities within the company with middle schoolers.

This growth speaks to the value companies see in job shadows—not only as a way to give back, but as an opportunity to connect early with the future workforce. Each experience represents a meaningful touchpoint between industry and education, helping students make informed decisions about high school coursework, postsecondary plans, and long‑term goals.

What makes job shadows so impactful is the grade level they work with. The runway for career exploration is becoming longer, starting in middle school. Research papers from educational groups, such as Britebound discuss that middle schoolers are the appropriate age to introduce career pathways, as they have yet to form decisions or  concrete ideas of what certain careers look like. Whereas high schoolers typically enter high school with a clear idea of what they want to study and where they want to work, leaving little flexibility for them to consider a new industry.

It is important to note that JA Maine does have job shadow for middle and high school students, but the high school job shadows are more targeted. JA works with high school students to learn the general sense of an industry they want to explore and our Program Team customizes a location based on their interests for the school. This year JA Maine hosted three high school job shadows: Northern Light, Dead River, and Paul White Company.

Some companies are also quite generous and host job shadows more than once. Unum, Dead River Company, and Northern Light host two job shadows throughout the year, while United Way provided three job shadows in the spring semester.

Image caption: Middle schoolers are shown the different departments within Mercy Hospital/Northern Light.

As a job shadow host, companies highlight multiple departments and roles, showing students that careers are rarely one‑dimensional. A single visit might introduce students to marketing, operations, human resources, IT, leadership, and more.

These experiences help students understand:

• How teams collaborate across departments
• The different education and skill pathways that lead to various roles
• The importance of professional skills like communication, teamwork, and problem‑solving
• How personal interests can align with real careers

Students consistently leave job shadows with more than just information; they leave with confidence. Asking professionals questions, navigating a workplace, and learning industry language builds essential career readiness skills that can’t be replicated in a classroom alone.

These experiences often become pivotal moments—sparking new aspirations or validating paths students were already considering.

Image caption: Students gain an understanding of the opportunities working in the automotive industry at Rowe Ford

Reflections from students highlight the impact of JA Job Shadows:

“I learned that if you work as a team everything becomes really easy and going to school makes for a good future.” Student, Capozza Floor Covering JA Job Shadow

“I learned that you can give back to your communities in many different ways, and that there’s multiple job branches that can come from a company, like for example at UNUM there’s jobs that work with construction, IT, legal work, and they also work with doctors, even though they’re an insurance company.” Student, Unum Job Shadow

“I learned how to answer interview questions, and get a good look at what starting a job will be like.” Student, Dead River Company Job Shadow

The impact isn’t one sided. Companies who host job shadows have the opportunity to highlight opportunities within their own business in the hope that students will remember their experience post-graduation. Diversified Communications is a perfect example of this with one of their employees sharing, “we’ve had past students graduate from college and apply for jobs at our company.” Brandi, a Mercedes-Benz employee and JA Job Shadow facilitator, shared that after the job shadow “students seemed completely engaged, making this a fun day. A few of the students were asking how they can work here!”

Image caption: The Town of Standish job shadow highlights careers in a municipality to middle schoolers

JA Job Shadows work because of the commitment of our business partners and educators who believe in giving students authentic experiences. Together, we’re creating pathways that help young people see opportunity available to them in Maine, and broaden their scope of career opportunities in Maine.

If you’re interested in hosting a JA Job Shadow or learning more about how your company can get involved, reach out to our Program Team, Jesseca Steele (Southern Maine) and Mikaela Ziobro, (Northern, Western, and MidCoast Maine). You can also learn more about the experience, here.