What is Junior Achievement? The mission of Junior Achievement is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. We are an economic education organization that provides volunteer-delivered K-12 programs that help students foster skills in workforce readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship with a STEM focus.

How does it work? The Junior Achievement program manager receives requests from teachers to have JA in their classroom - requests are received for both the fall and spring semesters.The program manager then matches the teacher with a volunteer. Junior Achievement provides the volunteer with training to utilize fun and easy program materials to talk to students and lead them in hands-on activities.

Volunteers conducting elementary level programs visit the classroom during school hours five times for approximately 30 minutes a visit. The five visits are generally done once per a week, but can be as flexible as the volunteer and teacher need and want it to be. The volunteer and teacher decide together on the day and time of the week the volunteer will visit the classroom. Volunteers conducting middle and high school level programs visit the classroom during school hours five to eight times for 45 to 60 minutes depending on the program selected.

What are the benefits to students? Junior Achievement is one of a few nonprofits to use independent, third-party evaluators to gauge the impact of its programs. Studies conducted by these parties have shown that children who receive/participate in JA programs exhibit greater levels of confidence, display enhanced levels of decision-making and problem-solving skills, develop more competitive life and work skills than their peers, and are more likely to stay in school and graduate.

To learn more about Junior Achievement, please visit www.centralncja.org. Join us today!