Houston – Next Level Urgent Care Founder and serial entrepreneur Juliet Breeze, MD, has long stressed the importance of student mentorship.  “I don’t think I’m overstating the importance of business people and adults in our community taking a hard look and saying, ‘What can we do? How can we help to make this a prosperous future for our children and their children?’”  The traditional school curriculum does not always provide students with the career exposure and financial education they need. When her eldest daughter got the chance to spend the day at JA Biz-Town learning about business and commerce, Breeze was impressed with the program.  So, when asked to join the Junior Achievement board in 2017, she jumped at the opportunity.

During her time on the board, Breeze and her team at Next Level have worked with middle school and high school students.  By providing “reverse job-shadowing” experiences at local middle schools, Next Level team members have the opportunity to describe their positions in the medical field and give students insight into the array of possible careers in healthcare. Next Level has also provided externship opportunities for high school students and hosted several virtual learning experiences.  Breeze also donated her time to expose high schoolers to entrepreneurism through the JA Company program, where students launch a business and compete against other startup concepts on a local and national level.

Breeze has a lot to look forward to in her role as chair of the board since Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas has many incredible initiatives in the works.  She is most excited about the potential construction of The Discovery Center, a facility that will provide hands-on business and financial planning experience.  She is also enthusiastic about the 3DE program that combines traditional learning with case-based studies.  Several schools will be piloting 3DE this coming year.

“I am very honored to be the first woman to chair this organization and I know I won’t be the last. The leadership of Junior Achievement Southeast Texas Chapter is being very intentional about making sure that our board looks like the community we serve.  I am very proud to be involved in an organization that sees the importance in that” says Breeze.

If you are interested in becoming involved with Junior Achievement, whether personally or through your company, please visit https://southeasttexas.ja.org.