Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta & NWT Chapter

Junior Achievement’s Northern Alberta & NWT Chapter Celebrates 50 Years

By Fay Fletcher “JA inspires us all to reach for the stars. The sky is the limit for our potential.” This is just one of the hundreds of quotes written on the Wall of Evidence in the Junior Achievement (JA) centre. Other alumni’s (also known as Achievers) quotes include how empowered several Achievers felt after the program, despite unfortunate home situations or social alienation at school. The Wall of Evidence is rapidly running out of space – but that’s not a bad thing. It’s because up to 400 students come to the JA centre in Edmonton’s World Trade Centre each week to learn skills that dramatically change their careers and futures.

“The Junior Chamber and JA have a storied history,” explains Chris Curtola, national vice president - JCI Canada. “It was actually Junior Chamber members who helped found Junior Achievement Northern Alberta & Northwest Territories (NWT) back in 1964.

Since then, the young entrepreneurs and business people who are members of Junior Chamber Edmonton have volunteered to teach

classes, sponsored JA and have served on its board and its staff. We are so proud to see JA grow to what it is today from the humble beginnings when it was started back in 1964.”

Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 by Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph; Horace Moses, president of Strathmore Paper Co.; and Senator Murray Crane of Massachusetts. The first program, the JA Company Program, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis. In 1964, Stanley Milner and Stan Melton were instrumental in bringing a JA chapter to Edmonton.

Like any great organization dedicated to building future leaders, there are many rolls to fill. Donors and sponsors provide sustainable funding. Volunteers, who deliver all of JA’s programs, have allowed the Northern Alberta & NWT chapter to double in size between 2010 and 2014. Teachers share and support the mission, which allows for JA to reach thousands of young minds each year. The last

Junior Achievement Northern Alberta & NWT Chapter | 50 Years

piece of the puzzle are the students, whom open themselves up to experiencing enterprise, understanding business and economics and striving hard to develop the skills necessary to succeed in the business world. To date, over 300,000 students have participated in the program.

Nicole Janssen is just one of many notable JA alumni. She is the president and co-founder of Stratus Holdings Inc., a private real estate investment firm. She is also a principal at Janalta Interactive Inc., an online publisher.

“I participated in the Junior Achievement Company Program in the 1996/1997 and 1997/1998 school years,” says Janssen. “The experience was invaluable for my future. I learned great business lessons, like the importance of teamwork and how hard, at times, teamwork can be to achieve among a diverse group. I learned about the importance of an initial business plan, but also the importance of constantly revisiting and revising that plan. I learned about networking and how much farther ahead you can end up just because you have established a network of contacts. Today I am a serial entrepreneur married to a serial entrepreneur. I attribute my career choices in large part to my early entrepreneurial experiences in JA.”

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Investing in our future.

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Achievers express their gratitude for the program on the Wall of Evidence Ian McDonald, a partner at Grant Thornton LLP, is another JA alumni success story. “The only difference between a student’s business and mine is a few zeroes,” McDonald explains of the classroom program where JA students are presented with real-life case studies in which they solve problems, balance budgets, design marketing programs and more. McDonald considered careers in law and politics until he entered the JA program in high school. Once introduced to a varied group of committed business-minded people, he found his mind and eyes open to a wealth of business opportunities. He completed a degree in commerce at the University of Alberta and since 1988 has been a dedicated JA volunteer.

Other notable Achievers include Harold Roozen, CEO of CCI Thermal Technologies Inc.; Mark Cuban, founder of broadcast. com and owner of the Dallas Mavericks and even music icon Gene Simmons.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Junior Achievement chapter in Northern Alberta & NWT. To celebrate, JA will recognize eight supporters that have had a great impact on the program over the years. JA will also gather stories from alumni and share their words in the community stories section of the JA website.

There will be plenty of stories to tell; JA has touched many young lives and contributed significantly to North America’s entrepreneurial landscape.

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This anniversary, however, is not the first notable milestone JA has celebrated.

In 1980, The Junior Achievement Alberta Business Hall of Fame was unveiled to identify and chronicle the lives of great Albertan men and women whose business leadership and community stewardship shaped the ways that people live, work and interact.

JA was also instrumental in the women’s movement. “In the late ’60s young women were really coming to the forefront of JA,” says chairman of the board, Dennis Horrigan. “In 1966, 55 per cent of the students who joined JA were female. There was quite a big influx of young women who were developing an interest in business, as by this time more females than ever were entering the paid workforce. The female students who joined JA were ready to pursue the same levels of success as their male peers and knew that the skills they would learn in JA would help them along the way. In 1967, Bonnie Christie was the first female student to win best president and best achiever of the year.”

JA is still growing. The Northern Alberta & NWT program aims to reach 40,000 students annually by the 2016/2017 school year. There is a good chance the program will exceed this goal as

they reached approximately 27,000 students this past school year and aim for 32,000 during the 2014/2015 season. JA also looks forward to adding two new high school programs in 2014/2015.

These programs are Be Entrepreneurial and Success Skills. Be

We are proud to invest in the Junior Achievement program.

Congratulations to Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta for providing 50 years of inspiration to youth.

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How the JA Northern Alberta and NWT program breaks down by grade level.

GRADE 3

Our Community: Needs, Jobs, and Tools. Students explore how their needs and wants are met through various jobs in the community, as well as learning about important tools used in various occupations.

GRADE 4

Our Country: Technology and Innovation. This segment explains the impact technology and Canadian inventors have on business and societies around the world and explores industrial changes due to technology along with what might be in store for the future.

GRADE 5

Our Business World. Introduces the business world by focusing on the basic free enterprise conceptions of operations, management, manufacturing and marketing. Our Business World gives elementary students experience in making big decisions in different areas of a small operation.

GRADE 6

A Business of Our Own. Building on previous learning and concepts, the opportunity is now in the hands of the students to operate their own retail business. Students create, organize and run their own business for a day and see what challenges and successes come from working as a group towards a common goal.

GRADE 7

GRADE 9

Economics for Success. Students answer the question ‘What is success to me?’ and how they can achieve it by staying in school. The economic costs of dropping out of school are questioned when groups budget with paychecks, evaluate their skills and determine which career path is best for them.

GRADE 9

Investment Strategies. An in-class and e-learning opportunity, Investment Strategies introduces youth to the stock market. Students learn about various investment strategies and the ethics and philanthropy that are often associated with a global market.

GRADE 10 – 12

Success Skills. This multisession program has students examining what different skills sets are required in the workforce, why collaboration and interpersonal skills are essential and the benefits of life-long learning.

GRADE 10 – 12

Be Entrepreneurial. Students will be able to recognize characteristics and practices of successful entrepreneurs and demonstrate business planning skills for venture start-up, including marketing, financing and management decision making.

GRADE 9 – 12

Company Program. The cornerstone of Junior Achievement, the JA Company Program is an afterschool program that has groups of students working together to operate their own business venture for 18 weeks. Divided into three segments: start-up, operations, and liquidation, the program allows students to take ownership of their success by giving them the resources necessary to run their business.

Diversity in Action. Designed to prepare our youth for the workforce, students explore how the diversity within their class and their community benefits, poses challenges, and ultimately enriches our lives and workplaces.

GRADE 8

Dollars with Sense. A basic introduction into personal finance and what information is important for financial success. Students work on budgeting, personal investments and money management. This financial literacy program is supported by Servus Credit Union.

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We do.

Congratulations to Junior Achievement Northern Alberta for bringing entrepreneurship and financial literacy to students for 50 years. atb.com Proud sponsor of a successful Alberta

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Congratulations Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta on 50 years!

Wishing you many more years of success to come.

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Junior Achievement Northern Alberta & NWT Chapter | 50 Years | Page 5

Entrepreneurial focuses on helping students recognize characteristics and practices of successful entrepreneurs while demonstrating business planning skills. Success Skills asks students to examine what different skill sets are required in the workforce. For example, why collaboration and interpersonal skills are essential and the benefits of life-long learning.

JA uses technology to reach as many students as possible. “This past year we experimented with delivering programs via web-conference in an attempt to increase our efficiency,” says Horrigan. “In the future we will continue to implement new technological practices to improve our procedures.”

Junior Achievement thanks everyone that has kept Theodore Vail’s dream alive for these many years. “Thank you to the countless individuals, corporations, foundation and government donors who, for the past 50 years, have supported JA,” concludes Horrigan on behalf of many grateful administrators and participants. “Your generous donations made it possible for us to deliver financial and business literacy programs to hundreds of thousands of young Albertans. We are looking forward to your continued involvement for the years to come.”

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CONGRATULATIONS

To your continued success

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT

50 YEARS

Congratulations Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta on 50 years of business in Edmonton.

We also congratulate

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Congratulations on 50 years of support in our community. Thank you for inspiring and educating the leaders of tomorrow.

Lincolnberg Master Builder is proud 2008 Junior Achievement to Support Junior Achievement!

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