Make-A-Wish: ‘Dreams really do come true’
CEO of Menomonie chamber selected for U.S. Chamber Fellowship
July 13, 2026
APPLETON – Two organizations founded to inspire and care for the youth of Wisconsin have teamed up – cutting the ribbon on a new Connected for Kids (CFK) storefront within Junior Achievement’s (JA) experiential learning center in Appleton.
At the Winnebago Area Community First Career Exploration and Financial Literacy Center – located within the Fox Valley Tech campus at 11 Tri Park Way – Manager Jill Hannemann said local businesses sponsor and operate mock storefronts created to mimic what it’s like to work in their respective industries.
“JA [is] all over the [U.S.], but there are only about 50 centers like [ours] in the whole country [with this kind of] marketplace,” she said. “[Then], there are only 13 like [ours] that serve two programs.”
Partnering with schools throughout Northeast Wisconsin and beyond, JA Director of Development and Stewardship Matt Juedes said students participating in JA BizTown and JA Finance Park have unique opportunities to engage with the marketplace – learning about career opportunities, economics and civic responsibility along the way.
“JA BizTown [is] geared to fourth through sixth graders [who] come here, go into these storefronts with established roles and operate in a mock town throughout the day,” he said. “JA Finance Park [is] our financial-literacy focused course [for] seventh through ninth graders… They’re given a life scenario – single, married, credit score, salary – on a tablet [that has] a JA software program, and they have to make budgeting decisions… [to] live within their means.”
In the new storefront, Jamie Hagenow-Sekora – pediatrics specialties and primary care pediatrics and adolescent team leader with Emplify Health by Bellin – said CFK’s partner organizations – consisting of Emplify Health, Froedtert ThedaCare and Children’s Wisconsin – wanted to curate an authentic experience for the students.
“All three of our organizations, when we came together, [knew] we had to make this stand apart, and it had to be something that was going to be different,” she said. “We actually [went] back and asked our physicians, our nurses, our child life [specialists], ‘What do you want to showcase in your skills that would ignite excitement [in] these kiddos [so], later on, they [will] want to work in health care?’”
As health systems nationwide continue to face workforce shortages, Hagenow-Sekora said giving children a memorable, hands-on experience could inspire them to pursue future careers in health care.
“We knew those fourth, fifth and sixth graders needed to have a tangible experience,” she said. “They needed to be able to do something fun, to go home [with] that excitement and tell [their parents] all about what they did today. So, we genuinely came together [to think] of what we could do.”
A career-inspiring opportunity
Hagenow-Sekora said the idea to install a CFK storefront in the JA marketplace came after a chamber event in the facility revealed an empty space the joint health venture could help fill.
“It was a key time that Connected for Kids could help really insert and invest in our communities, because that’s our promise – to have the happiest, healthiest kids in northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula,” she said. “How better [to show that than] investing right into our community, and we want to help build that curiosity of health care.”
Solidifying the partnership in October 2025, Hannemann said the first cohort of students who got to experience the CFK storefront came through the JA marketplace in January.
“Because they have lessons to do before they start, each school year, [the programs] usually start in October and then run all the way through June 2,” she said. “We run summer camp as well. So, we’ll have two weeks of summer camp coming up, one [this month] and one in August.”
In preparation of a JA learning experience, Hannemann said students spend six weeks preparing for the program in their classrooms – in part, thinking about what and who every community needs to function.
“Invariably, group after group, [they came] up with a hospital, a doctor, a clinic and, sadly, for the first three years that I was here, we did not have that,” she said. “So, kids would come to JA BizTown, but it didn’t really reflect the things they had talked about at school that every town needs.”
Now, with the addition of CFK to the marketplace, Hannemann said the program is a more accurate reflection of a real-life community.
“Once we decided to do it, we had to start working together to determine what kind of jobs we [were] going to have, and what kind of jobs [the health systems] wanted to highlight as career opportunities for young people?” she said. “We wanted to bring in equipment that made kids feel like they were doing things they weren’t supposed to do, and touching things they’re not allowed to touch at the doctor’s office.”
Consulting their respective systems’ teams, Hagenow-Sekora said Connected for Kids’ partner organizations developed a set of activities that help provide a peek into the medical side of health care.
“Kiddos get to go in there, do their blood pressure, do their vitals, see an X-ray, learn about child life, learn about the fidgets, [etc.],” she said. “We want those young students to have that experience.”
Job opportunities for kids within the CFK storefront, Hannemann said, include medical assistants, child life specialists, lab technicians, X-ray technicians and physical therapists.
“The Connected for Kids team has been really involved in making sure the positions reflect what actually happens and making it fun for kids,” she said. “Every single time we have students, [each partner organization] sends somebody to be here to volunteer and represent [the storefront].”
Beyond providing care, she said the students also have the opportunity to work in an administrative role – such as “a CEO, a CFO and a marketing manager.”
“Each student can [also] visit the Connected for Kids storefront during their time with us,” she said. “They can choose: do they want to have an eye exam, do they want to get a flu vaccine, do they want to work with the X-ray technician to learn about broken bones? – and, invariably, they all leave inspired about careers in the medical field.”
Inclusivity, Hannemann said, is also paramount to JA’s operations and programs.
“We have jobs created for students with special needs, so they don’t have to stay back at school and they can participate,” she said. “We also have a quiet room with fidgets for kids who need to decompress, [and] we translate documents for students who come from other countries who want to participate.”
Hannemann said “99%” of participating schools opt to come back for a learning experience each year – drawing classes from as far as Wausau and Sheboygan Falls.
“The challenge really is spreading the word about what we’re doing, because we’re so busy with the kids coming through,” she said. “Going out and letting districts, teachers and principals know this resource and this opportunity are available for them is the biggest challenge I have.”
Relying “largely” on the support of the community, Hannemann said the unique marketplace center – opened in 2019 – is made possible by local businesses.
“[Our] partners are the reasons that we’re here,” she said. “It would be difficult for a small community to host a center like this, typically because it’s intricate and it’s expensive, and our partners really stepped up to make it happen.”
Calling it an “absolute gift,” Hannemann said CFK’s storefront and support of JA will help the organization continue to offer career-inspiring experiences to kids from across the state.
“I think it was May 2024 – right at the end of the school year – [when] a group of students was leaving, and two boys were walking out side-by-side and one said, ‘That was the best day ever, that was the best field trip we’ve ever been on,’ and the other one said, ‘I know! Now, I know what I want to be when I grow up’ – that’s why we’re here,” she said. “No matter what storefront they’re in, they’re exploring careers.”
Connected for Kids
Mark Cockley – senior vice president of population health for the North Region of Froedtert ThedaCare – said Connected for Kids was founded shortly after he came on board in 2019.
“We have three highly performing organizations realizing the pediatric care that’s needed in the community,” he said. “When care was divided up between [Emplify Health by] Bellin, Ascension and ThedaCare, [none] of us alone probably had an effective care delivery model.”
Recognizing the increase in patients requiring multiple providers and/or specialists, Cockley said keeping care consolidated and local was a large goal of establishing CFK.
“More and more, there are a lot of other chronic medical conditions where people need to see multiple care providers,” he said. “How do we align that care up so everyone on the care team knows what’s going on and provides the care… closer to home?”
Rather than competing for scarce healthcare resources, Medical Director for the Northeast Region for Children’s Wisconsin and Connected for Kids, Matt Buelow, said the health systems decided to work together to provide high-quality, coordinated care for families across the region and beyond.
“We wanted to bring more value to the community and work together instead of competing,” he said.
Focusing efforts on creating a timely and seamless care experience, both Cockley and Buelow said the health systems have enjoyed positive feedback not only from patients, but providers as well – instilling confidence and trust in health care across the region.
“The relationship between the providers has grown,” Buelow said. “When a primary care provider can refer to a specialist they know [and] trust, and they can convey that confidence to [a patient’s] family, that goes a long way in terms of the building that patient-provider satisfaction, patient-provider relationship and trust in the whole process – because health care is fragmented – and this is a huge benefit of the [CFK] partnership thus far.”
As the partnership continues to grow and succeed in its efforts, Buelow said projects such as the storefront are examples of CFK’s commitment to its community beyond care plans.
“[Growth] is not just ‘number of patients served,’ but sophistication of our partnership – whether it’s committee structure, governance structure, strategy or marketing, we’re doing things like [the storefront] to emphasize our goal is to be in the community as well,” he said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for Connected for Kids to give back to the community that we’re so very proud to serve.”
