On May 7, a few hundred high school students from across Southern Massachusetts walked into UMass Dartmouth for the first-ever JA Southern Massachusetts Youth Summit. The theme — “Impact Through Connection: The World of Tomorrow — Exploring AI as the Next World’s Fair Moment” — borrowed its name from the 1964 New York World’s Fair, the last time a generation got to step inside a physical preview of what came next.

This time the preview was AI. And the students were the ones building it.

Motta Financial was proud to sponsor the Summit as a Connection Sponsor, joining Title Sponsor Milestone Mortgage Solutions, University Partner UMass Dartmouth, and dozens of other local businesses and nonprofits. Our own Caleb Long was on the ground for the day — sitting in on the fireside chat, walking the floor at the JA Company Program Pitch Competition, and answering a fair number of “so... what does a CPA actually do?” questions.

Why this Summit, and why now

A lot of our day-to-day work at Motta lives at a specific intersection: modern technology paired with human judgment. We’ve spent the last few years building workflows, an internal AI assistant, and an integrated service stack — tax, advisory, FP&A, bookkeeping, payroll, planning, and wealth management — so that our clients get faster, sharper answers without losing the nuance that gets you in trouble when it’s missing.

So when Junior Achievement told us this year’s Summit was a youth-led conversation about AI, opportunity, and leadership, the decision wasn’t hard.

The students in that room are going to inherit every tool we’re building right now. Some of them will use it. Some will improve it. A few will replace it. We’d rather be in the room early.

What stood out

A few things worth sharing from the day:

The students were not intimidated by AI. They were curious, skeptical, and practical about it — closer to how seasoned professionals talk about a new tool than how cable news tends to talk about one. That’s the right disposition.

The networking was the product. JA built a day where students could move freely between educators, employers, college reps, and community leaders — and that compounding of connections is exactly what the Summit’s name promises. We met future accountants, future engineers, future founders, and a few future clients of our clients.

The pitch competition was sharp. Watching high schoolers walk through a real business model, real numbers, and a real ask — in front of a real audience — is the kind of training most adults don’t get until they’re twenty years into a career.

A word on showing up

There’s a temptation, especially for a growing firm, to save every dollar for the next hire, the next tool, the next direct-revenue lever. We get it. We run the model too.

But part of what makes a region worth growing a firm in is the depth of its talent pipeline, the strength of its small businesses, and the quality of the institutions that connect the two. JA of Southern Massachusetts has been doing exactly that work since 1919, and they keep every program 100% free for students and schools. That’s worth supporting.

Huge thanks to Jeffrey Pelletier and the JA Southern Massachusetts team, to Rachel O’Donnell and Milestone Mortgage Solutions for leading the way as Title Sponsor, to UMass Dartmouth for hosting, and to every business and partner who showed up alongside us.

We’ll be back next year.