Author: Joe Ricketts

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Opportunity Education’s Pathways Program

I think about how actions I take today will impact what happens in the future. It’s not something I try to do; it’s what my mind does naturally.


So even as Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Learning program continues to help young learners acquire the academic essentials and skills they’ll need to tackle life’s challenges, my mind has been thinking about what happens next for these young people and how I can help them to succeed.


Some of these kids will go to college, or trade school, or the military, or find a job with further training opportunities. But whatever path they choose, I want Opportunity Education to take actions today that will help them succeed in their futures.


It’s from this thinking that Opportunity Education’s Pathways Program emerged. It’s a global program that supports students through high school, post-secondary education, and into their first career. (I say first career because, in the world today, people are likely to have more than one career.)


Finding a good, financially viable path in life is difficult, particularly for low-income students. Opportunity Education’s Pathways Program helps young people understand their options – including the cost-benefit of different choices – and to make a plan for when school is done. Most importantly, we make a commitment to provide support to these young people for 10 years from the beginning of high school.

The Pathways Program is being rolled out at Opportunity Education’s United States and Tanzanian locations.  We recently held our first Career Day in Moshi, Tanzania with 91 high school students from Mtakuja Secondary School.  Presenters included university representatives, government officials from the Tanzania vocational training authority (VETA), the National Council for Technical Education (NACTE), as well as school officials, teachers and Opportunity Education representatives.  It was a full-day event with presentations on a wide range of paths that included things like psychology, veterinarian medicine, nursing, law, and immigration police. 


While it’s early days for the Pathways Program, we already plan to hold two events like this annually in Tanzania. These will be supported by in-school advising through career clubs and individual support.


I want to see young people have every chance for success and for Opportunity Education to help them get started on their paths. It’s my hope that the Pathways Program will help them get started on their way.

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Seamless Learning at Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Academy

I think a lot of people want to get back to something that feels more like normal, and for families with school age kids, starting classes can be big part of that. But opening a school right now needs to be done in the right way.

At Opportunity Education, the foundation I established to help empower young people, we gave a lot of thought to how reopening should work at our Quest Forward Academies.

We are, of course, following all the guidance from federal and state health officials, including having everyone consistently wear masks, sanitizing hands regularly, and socially distancing.

But just like our Quest Forward Learning program is designed to reimagine education for a modern age, we wanted to approach on campus learning in a way that made sense in today’s world. To do that, we developed Seamless Learning.

At the center of Seamless Learning is our focus on the learning, not the buildings. What does that mean in practice?

• Where allowed by local officials, all our classes are running simultaneously on both Zoom and in physical classrooms.

• Parents and students work with the school to determine if their student should be remote or in person.

• Regardless of where the student is located, he or she can fully participate in each class and review recorded video for any missed class or topic.

Right now, the Quest Forward Academy Omaha is working in the Seamless mode, with approximately 20 students participating remotely over Zoom and everyone else learning on campus. (Santa Rosa is still working fully in distance learning mode as schools are closed for in-person learning in Sonoma County, CA.)

We are living through a period of rapid and disruptive change. It is a difficult time but my experience has been that innovation happens at moments like this. I think Opportunity Education’s Seamless Learning is going to prove to be one of those moments of innovation, and some of what we are learning is going to stick.

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Why I named My Ranch Jackson Fork Ranch

I’ve long enjoyed the rugged beauty of the American West.  So, it was really very nice for Marlene and me when, back in the late 1990s, we bought a ranch in Wyoming’s Upper Hoback Valley.  The area harkens back to an earlier time; a time when bison roamed freely in large numbers and a special breed of entrepreneur – the Mountain Men – sought to make their mark through the burgeoning fur trade.

To understand the name Jackson Fork Ranch, I need to share a little bit of the Sublette County, WY history I learned over the years.  In the late 1820s, among the industrious entrepreneurs who traveled West to become fur trappers was David Jackson.  (Others included John Hoback and William Sublette for whom the Hoback River and Sublette County are named.)

In the parlance of their time, Mountain Men referred to what we call “valleys” as “holes” and what we call “tributary rivers” as “forks.”  Jackson Hole and Little Jackson Hole are believed to be David Jackson’s favorite valleys and, thus, they came to bear his name.  And the Hoback River of today was referred to as “Jackson’s Fork,” a fact that is evidenced on several 19th century maps of the area. 

So, the reason I named our ranch Jackson Fork Ranch is out of respect for the history of this wonderful place, and the brave men who ventured into the unknown.

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Introducing the Summer Bridge Program

COVID-19 has affected so many aspects of our lives, including the educational experience school-age children had (or didn’t have) this year.  For kids entering 9th grade, their disrupted 8th grade experiences add unhelpful stress as they start high school. 

This got me thinking about how we could use Opportunity Education’s Quest Forward Learning curriculum to help young people entering high school be better prepared so they could start 9th grade with confidence instead of anxiety.  I discussed the idea with my teams at Opportunity Education and Quest Forward Academy who were able quickly to put together the Summer Bridge Program, terrific 2-week crash courses in Math and English. 

I’m underwriting the costs, so the Summer Bridge Program is free of charge.  The response to this point has been terrific.  You can learn more about this Summer Bridge Program here.