World of Choices Events and Highlights

World of Choices: Career readiness events for youth!

Youth across Canada become more prepared for their future as they participate in interactive events to become equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to be better prepared for the future. These events take place it two different format and styles: World of Choices Event or a Skilled Trades Summit.

World of Choices Events

These events feature multiple career disciplines and each include a minimum of three skilled trades.

Format
An in-person or virtual event which normally accommodate 50-1,000 youth (per event). Length of event may vary, but on average is at least two hours.

Agenda Topics
The agenda typically includes a workshop/panel that features transferable skills, careers in skilled trades, career profiles and labour marketing insights. These events also include mentor sessions and a career fair.

Volunteer Engagement
Mentors support as volunteers for roundtable sessions, a key note speaker or support tradeshow representatives.

Skilled Trades Summit

These events are hosted on-site at colleges/institutes across Canada.

Format
This is an in-person event and normally accommodates 50-100 youth per event. Typically, these are full-day events.

Agenda Topics
The agenda typically includes a transferable skills session, a panel with skilled trades subject matter experts, college workshops, pre-apprenticeship details/materials, and academic and career pathways planning tools.

Volunteer Engagements
Panel members with skilled trades subject matter experts and volunteering and providing supervision throughout the event.

Learn more about JA Canada by watching the video above.

Impact from 2023-24 Events

Events Across Canada

31,000+

Students Participated

74%

of event participants agree that people from all backgrounds can be successful in the skilled trades.

81%

of event participants agree that there is value from learning from various mentors.

Volunteering with JA

By volunteering with JA, you can empower youth to reach their potential. You can do this by sharing your expertise and an experiences as a mentor. Our World of Choices events are often in need of volunteers to be career mentors or support event logistics. Volunteer needs and roles vary by date and location.

Volunteer as a Career Mentor

Our World of Choices events are successful with the support of career mentors who share their experiences and insights with event participants. Career mentors guides small groups through conversations about the value of transferable skills and how some of those are used in their own career. Mentors can also share their career path, insights on what their career is like and potential roles/responsibilities one can expect in that career.

Interested in Becoming a Career Mentor? Please reach out to the World of Choices event lead from your local JA Office.

Please Note: In some cases, volunteer screening may require an 8-week lead time (due to police screening turnaround time in some areas). If you cannot be accommodated as a volunteer this year, you’ll be invited for the future.
When connecting with your local JA Office, please share with them your organization/company, industry, your job title/area of expertise, any past experience you have with JA, geographic parameters and/or equal interest to participate virtual vs in-person.

Download the Career Mentor Guide

Volunteer with Other JA Programs

There are a variety of volunteer opportunities with JA including facilitating a program with a group or class. We provide training in advance to ensure you’re well prepared as well as any of the classroom material that you’ll need. All our programs focus on one or more of our pillars: financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. We have program options available for students in grades 3-12.

Find your local JA office and information about opportunities in your community here.

2025 Event Schedule

Select a province below to see a list of World of Choices events including dates, locations and local JA contacts. If you’re interested in learning about one of the events or other volunteer opportunities in your region, please reach out the JA contact listed in the charts below.

Alberta

Date	Location	Event Type	Local JA Office	JA Contact(s)
February 6	Edmonton	In-Person	JA Northern Alberta	Angelika Hogan
February 7	Calgary	Virtual (Zoom)	JA Southern Alberta	TBD
February 27	Edmonton	In-Person	JA Northern Alberta	Angelika Hogan
March 14	Calgary	In-Person	JA Southern Alberta	Natalija Radovanovic
April 23	Edmonton	In-Person	JA Northern Alberta	Angelika Hogan
May 6	Red Deer	In-Person	JA Southern Alberta	Janette Santiago Melanie Hardy
May 23	Calgary	Virtual	JA Southern Alberta	TBD

Saskatchewan

Date	Location	Event Type	Local JA Office	JA Contact(s)
May 13	Balgonie	In-Person	JA in Saskatchewan	TBD
May 14	Balgonie	In-Person	JA in Saskatchewan	TBD
May 15	Balgonie	In-Person	JA in Saskatchewan	TBD

Ontario

Date	Location	Event Type	Local JA Office	JA Contact(s)
February 18	Cobourg	In-Person	JA Northern and Eastern Ontario	Cody McIntyre
February 24	Cornwall	In-Person	JA Northern and Eastern Ontario	Cody McIntyre
February 25	Pembroke	In-Person	JA Northern and Eastern Ontario	Cody McIntyre
February 26	Brockville	In-Person	JA Northern and Eastern Ontario	Cody McIntyre
March 4	Kingston	In-Person	JA Northern and Eastern Ontario	Cody McIntyre
March 26	Toronto	In-Person	JA Central Ontario	Michelle Belanger
April 3	Chatham	In-Person	JA South Western Ontario	Mandy Deelstra
May 27	Sarnia	In-Person	JA South Western Ontario	Mandy Deelstra

Quebec

Date	Location	Event Type	Local JA Office	JA Contact(s)
February 28	St-Raymond de Portneuf	In-Person	JA Quebec	Jessika Houde
February (date TBD)	Charlesbourg	In-Person	JA Quebec	Jessika Houde

New Brunswick

Date	Location	Event Type	Local JA Office	JA Contact(s)
February 25	Fredericton	In-Person	JA New Brunswick	Kristy MacKinnon
May 7	Sackville	In-Person	JA New Brunswick	Kristy MacKinnon
May 13	Woodstock	In-Person	JA New Brunswick	Kristy MacKinnon
May 15	Miramichi	In-Person	JA New Brunswick	Kristy MacKinnon

Event Higlights

Photo Gallery: Skilled Trades Summits, 2024

Photo Credits: Garcia Creative

Social Media Highlights, 2024

Below you can find highlights from some of the 2024 events. Click on one of the items below to learn more about each of the events.

News Items

Learn more about some of the past World of Choices events with the links below.

Additional Learning for Youth

After a World of Choices event, youth can continue the learning by exploring the JA Virtual Career Exploration Centre. This is an open-access virtual platform designed for self-exploration. With a variety of learning resources, the centre is designed to help students aged 13-18 learn about trends and emerging career opportunities so they can be better informed and prepared to make decisions about their future career choices.

Visit the Career Exploration Centre

Supporters

World of Choices is made possible by an array of industry leaders, both local and national supporters. Join us as a sponsor/partner of World of Choices – connect with Oliver Maynard-Langedijk.