Club Meeting – October 2nd, 2014

Junior Achievement (JA) is the world’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their own economic success, plan for the future, and make smart academic and economic choices.

Our speaker, Katherin Anderson Elam has been at the helm of Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia for 16 years.  JA serves 9% of the student base in seventeen counties and eight cities in Southwest Virginia with over 100,000 students.  Ms. Elam is responsible for the day-to-day operations – ensuring the staff is trained properly, maintaining strong board relations, fundraising, keeping the organization financially solvent, and continue to develop a working relationship with the business community.  And in addition, continues to look for new partnerships that can benefit JA locally and globally.

Each year 470 volunteers are needed for kindergarten-12th grade programs to foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills.  Ms Elam emphasized JA’s efforts to keep classes age appropriate and up to date with regard to the business tools and technology used in today’s economy.  Using experiential learning to inspire students to dream big and reach their potential.

“Our research indicates JA programs help students see the important connections between what they learn in school and life after graduation,” said Katherin  Elam, President of Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia. “Junior Achievement gives young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. Through JA programs, students explore the role that money plays in achieving personal goals throughout life. They are empowered to develop, plan, set goals, and make thoughtful decisions that will help them protect themselves from the unexpected financial pitfalls that plague so many adults.”

To learn more how you can support to “shape tomorrow’s workforce” click here.