Junior Achievement of San Diego | Building Financial Literacy

Junior Achievement 2011 August eNewsletter

JA San Diego Students place 2nd in Competition at Nation's Capital

On the campus of Washington, D C 's George Washington University, Junior Achievement selected the teen entrepreneurs of "Eco-Eventerprise" as the second place winners of the 2011 North American JA Company of the Year Competition. "Eco-Eventerprise", a student company from the Harmonium Epicentre after-school program in San Diego, CA, competed against 14 other U.S. and Canadian student companies at this year's competition. "Eco-Eventerprise" creates artwork and event centerpieces from recycled materials.

At the culmination of the event, U.S. teen entrepreneurs had the opportunity to meet their congressional representatives, Capitol Hill staff members, and even U.S. Small Business Administration head Karen Mills.

A high school student from the competition recalls, "The whole experience with Junior Achievement has helped me develop my entrepreneurial skills and has also prepared me to start a business of my own with confidence that I can work with anyone, anywhere. It also reminded me that the world is limitless-, you can reach anything you put your mind to."

We are so proud of our Company Program winners!

JA San Diego Students place 2nd in Competition at Nation's Capital

Mix, Mingle, and Media

Whether you are job-hunting or friend-seeking, a savvy networker or an entrepreneur, you are invited to San Diego's Business & Mixer Expo where a portion of the proceeds benefit JA!

Join us on Tuesday, September 20 from 5 pm to 9 pm at the Town & Country Resort and Conference Center for some light food and refreshments. Enjoy three guest speakers who will deliver insider perspectives on traditional and digital media at this ultimate networking event where San Diego's business elite meet.

Buy your ticket (http://sandiegosbusinessmixerandexpo.com/for-attendee/) for $20 before September 13 with the code "JA" or afterward for $25 using the code "JAWeek," and we get $5 for your support!

Interested in being an exhibitor? Click here: (http://sandiegosbusinessmixerandexpo.com/for-exhbitor/). If you mention JA when booking your booth, JA will get 15% of the proceeds!

We'll also give you two free tickets to the Head to Toe Women's Expo just for buying a ticket! We can't wait to see you there!

Mighty Weekend, Mighty Impact

In three days, we packed in a fitness camp, a 5K walk/run, a gala, and a day at SeaWorld! Phew! JA and Mack's Miracles reached out to thousands of people to raise awareness about physical and financial fitness.

Along with Mack's Miracles founder, Marcus McNeill of the San Diego Chargers, and other community partners, over 300 deserving youth participated in the fitness camp, and thousands showed up for the "Bolt to the Q" 5K walk/run. Marcus even ran the entire way with all the participants! If that wasn't enough, 100 special guests dined with other Chargers players at the upscale Aquamoree for a star-filled night of tapas for a cause!

We didn't stop there-JA and SeaWorld selected and sponsored 25 students to have a full day at the marine wildlife park. We made a splash in the lives of the kids, most especially on the big kid, Marcus, since it was his first time at SeaWorld! Did you know that touching a green sea turtle in the wild could cost you a hefty $10,000 fine? Well, thanks to SeaWorld, we got a behind-the-scenes tour of the newly opened Turtle Reef and were able to touch one of these gentle creatures!

In just three days, thousands of dollars and much awareness were raised to promote physical activity and financial responsibility and to demonstrate their importance for future success in life.

We're already looking forward to next year!

Calling All Campers

This summer, Junior Achievement offered two sessions of a fast-paced weeklong summer camp for students going into 5th and 6th grades. The camp focused on business, economics, financial literacy, and teamwork. The students worked together to build and market a product, they learned about communities and spending money aboard the USS Midway, they were able to experience the process of applying and interviewing for a job, and they got to run JA BizTown for a day.

At the end of camp, all of the students were invited to a San Diego Padre�s baseball game to celebrate all of their success and hard work! Summer camp was more successful this year than ever before, with 164 students attending. Not only are we excited by the number of students that were able to participate this year, but we are also very thankful for the support of all of our JA BizTown shop and community sponsors that made our summer camp possible.

We have already begun planning for next year�s summer camp and know that it will be even more successful and educational. Stay tuned to the Junior Achievement website for more 2012 Summer Camp information as it becomes available at http://www.jasandiego.org/2012/educators/elem_camp.php.

JA Spotlight

Volunteer

Ameriprise sponsors Central Elementary School and provides volunteers for JA BizTown.

Thank you Ameriprise.

Board

Dr. Stephen Halfaker, Superintendent of the Lakeside Union School District and Junior Achievement board member, retired from the Lakeside Union School District as well as the JA Board on June 30, 2011. Steve was an active member of the Junior Achievement Board as well as the Junior Achievement Programs Action Team since May 2007. JA would like to thank Steve for all of his support and for sharing all of the truly unique and innovative programs he made happen in the Lakeside School District. Thank you Steve for your four years of invaluable service to Junior Achievement. We wish you well in this new stage of your life!

President

Dear Friends of JA:

The summer is already drawing to a close, and your JA Team has been busy preparing for another record year for Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties. We aim to reach over 46,000 students in Kindergarten through 12th grade during the 2011-12 school year.

Our updated "slogan" this year is: Empowering young people to own their economic success!

We do this by inspiring kids to dream big and reach for their full potential. And we give them the absolutely essential fundamentals of work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy, which enable them to reach their dreams.

Our mission is made possible through the support of our terrific Board of Directors, our 4,800 JA volunteers, thousands of teachers and the companies, individuals, and foundations who provide the financial support for JA.

We invite you to join us as Junior Achievement heads back into the classrooms. Please consider volunteering this fall, or making a donation to help a young person realize their vision.

Thank you and best wishes to each of you,

Joanne

Ps. Check out the article on the JA Company Program of the Year: Our JA company program from San Diego, Eco Eventerprise, placed 2nd In the North American competition, held in Washington, DC, in early August.

Funding Needed $2,351,500