Sporting Kansas City has teamed up with Junior Achievement of Greater Kansas City as a business partner for 3DE by Junior Achievement to offer educational experiences for local high school students.
Over the past two weeks, Sporting has welcomed approximately 200 students currently in 10th grade at Olathe East High School and Northeast High School for real-world learning at Children's Mercy Park. Students were introduced to a case challenge focused on the stadium's fan experience and tasked with pitching their proposals during a brief presentation to Sporting KC executives.
The comprehensive curriculum included an all-access tour of Children's Mercy Park, participation in a career panel with Sporting Kansas City staff and small group discussions with club partner Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City to showcase the value of community partnerships. In addition, Sporting KC associates visited the high schools to facilitate brainstorming and planning for the case challenge, providing students an opportunity to ask questions and offer feedback to refine their ideas.
"At Sporting KC, we are committed to empowering our community through our passion for soccer," said Sporting Kansas City Community Impact Manager Maigan Bridgette. "We are excited about this partnership with 3DE by Junior Achievement because this program equips young people with real-world skills and exposure to several career pathways. By engaging our younger demographic, we're not just growing a fan base. We're also cultivating a generation of change-makers and innovators who will leave a lasting impact on our club and community."
Throughout the case challenge, students interacted with 50 associates from dozens of departments: business intelligence, communications, community impact, corporate partnerships, digital media, events, fan development, fan services, hospitality, human resources, information technology, legal, marketing, match presentation, operations, The Victory Project, technical staff, ticketing and youth soccer.
By working with local organizations, 3DE by Junior Achievement provides an instructional model aimed at changing high school education to be more relevant, experiential and authentically connected to the complexities of the real world.Â
In addition to this partnership, Sporting Kansas City is actively involved in supporting students locally with numerous initiatives including the Red Card KC anti-bullying campaign, Blue KC Sporting Samaritan program, Emerging Sports Leaders Scholarships and the Sporting U platform.
