Ready for the Real World is a National Action Strategy adopted by hundreds of alliances that have partnered together through America’s Promise. This strategy’s goal is to engage every middle-school student through service learning and career exploration. This in turn will increase motivation of 11-14 year olds to achieve success in their schools, communities and later their career. This is such an important outreach because early adolescence is a pivotal time. The choices children make at this age will set them on a course for active citizenship and engaged learning in high school. Many students who ultimately drop out of school say they become disengaged during the middle school year. Not enough opportunities exist for these children to take part in active learning through real-world experiences. This strategy outreach will motivate at-risk youth to achieve academically and socially in their communities. I am apart of America’s Promise’s Youth Partnership Team. We decided to assist America’s Promise and the other partners to succeed in one of the National Action Strategies. Ready for the Real World seemed to be the perfect fit and is now up to the motivation of the individuals to get the ball rolling. I will be attending a small private liberal arts college in Caldwell Idaho. Located within miles of my school are the local YMCA and Boys and Girls Club. Both centers harbor many disadvantaged at-risk children. Both centers strike me as a perfect start to create a program that will engage children in service learning. As a future employee to Caldwell’s YMCA I have the OK by my boss to create such a program. With the partnership with America’s Promise staff contact for Ready for the Real world we are working together to create a curriculum that would include lessons, for the middle school children, on how to build a resume, how to dress for an interview, what course should be taken in high school to further a sparked interest for a certain job and much more. This interaction will be vital to getting students motivated to continue their involvement in high school. My plan is to take the students on monthly field trips to local business including different career fields like medical, law/justice, and retail. With the support of Caldwell and surrounding close cities this program will be a small success with a huge impact on at-risk students. My ultimate goal is to receive moneys that will allow one top-performing student to be sent to meet the CEO of their career interest. The discussion with America’s Promise staff member has assured to me that this is possible and I’m very excited to see the outcome.