Junior Achievement

About the Program:

For over 58 years, as the largest youth business education organization in Canada, Junior Achievement has been inspiring and preparing more than 4 million youth to succeed in an ever-changing global economy. Students who participate in Junior Achievement programs gain the skills and confidence they need to succeed in life. The programs prepare them to innovate, take on leadership roles and go after their dreams. This is accomplished by partnering with teachers and dedicated volunteers who bring the “real world” into the classroom.

Staff from Community Futures have volunteered their time to deliver the Junior Achievement program to Grade 6/7’s at Columbia Park Elementary, Arrow Heights Elementary and Begbie View Elementary Schools, as well as to the Grade XX at the Revelstoke Secondary School.

The programs are based on three pillars: financial literacy, entrepreneurship and work readiness:

Financial Literacy

Junior Achievement programs produce more financially literate graduates who save more and borrow less than the average Canadian; and, Junior Achievers themselves believe Junior Achievement to be the driving force behind their heightened financial literacy skills of budgeting, long term planning and investing. The result; more solvent citizens who put a lower burden on the social safety net, provide for their own retirement and are a more active investor base.

Work Readiness

Junior Achievement graduates believe that participation in Junior Achievement programs had a significant impact on their desire to stay in school and pursue a post-secondary education, and their ability to get a job and perform at work. As a result, Junior Achievers are better prepared for the workforce. The result; accelerated career tracks, altered trajectories and more skilled employees for employers.

Entrepreneurship

Junior Achievement produces graduates who are more likely to become entrepreneurs, create jobs and power our economy. These future business leaders attribute Junior Achievement as being the catalyst that gave them the ambition to open their own business, and the transformational force that empowered them with the skills and abilities to do so successfully. These new enterprises and net new jobs will drive the economic engine that will create increased prosperity and help close the productivity gap moving forward.

Junior Achievement is the successful link between education and the business world, giving youth the confidence and knowledge they need to define personal success, enhance their workforce readiness and pursue their dreams. Furthermore, Junior Achievement inspires youth to make informed, educated and knowledgeable financial decisions, start companies, develop career plans and express their innovative spirit.

For more information:

Website: http://www.jacan.org/programs