General

Pitch your Vision

JA Canada provides hands-on experiential learning in the classroom and through extra-curricular activities. Programs focus on three educational pillars: financial health, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. JA recruits volunteers from the business community to collaborate on the delivery of programs, which exposes students to real world business perspectives and ideas. 

Welcome to Pitch your Vision

About Pitch your Vision

Pitch your Vision is a 6-week learning experience that provides students in Grades 9-12 with the opportunity to explore generating, developing and evaluating ideas for launching a new entrepreneurial venture. This learning experience allows students to develop and test new ideas in an environment that encourages and celebrates creativity and innovation. Students will develop and test ideas through market research and prototyping, set goals, develop a business plan, and learn how to pitch their product/ service. 

At the end of the program, students will enter their business idea into a pitch competition. Judges will evaluate all pitch decks for evaluation and the top teams will be invited to pitch live at a virtual event. 

Upon completing the program students should be able to understand the significance of entrepreneurship and innovation in today’s society and economy, generate, develop and pitch an innovative idea, and evaluate the feasibility and competitiveness of a new venture.

Pitch your Vision does not include the opportunity for students to actually launch and run their small business as part of the program. This opportunity is included in the JA Company Program, which can be run as an after-school experience 18 weeks. If you are interested in having your students participate in this longer, more intensive experience contact your local JA contact and ask them about JA Company Program.

Curriculum Correlations

Find an overview of curriculum correlations here.

Program Delivery Format

The outline for the program was developed as an in-person experience but can be modified to accommodate virtual learning. There are many platforms and tools such as slack, teams, google meet, zoom and others that can be used to facilitate the instructional elements and allow for collaboration amongst students as required.  Please contact your JA contact if you are looking for recommendations.

Teacher Role

The teacher will act as a business advisor, and supervisor to their students, helping them develop and test ideas while developing an understanding of business and entrepreneurship through this ‘hands-on’ program.

The responsibility of the teacher is to help the students organize and assemble information so that they can make sound business decisions, without making those decisions for them. This is accomplished by understanding the program, highlighting important factors and asking questions which will stimulate the students throughout the process.

• Work closely with the students, and communicate with your JA Program Manager to ensure the success of the program 
• Commit to the agreed program delivery timeframe
• Lead students through the program as outlined below
• Supervise the students and ensure they are following all guidelines
• Review each lesson/activity and to prepare for your meetings
• Be comfortable and willing to share own professional experience/knowledge
• Ensure the students are meeting all outcomes of the program in a timely manner

Time Commitment 

• Preparation time will vary – on average 15-20 minutes before each meeting
• Approximately 2 hours, once a week
• Respond to student correspondence as necessary
• Program duration is 6 weeks, plus a virtual pitch event for the top teams