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Global Ethics Essay Contest Winner Announced

 

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
August 25, 2008

SANTA CLARITA, CALIF., STUDENT WINS GLOBAL ETHICS ESSAY CONTEST

Contest gets teens thinking about how to foster ethical decision-making.

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Jeffrey A. Richards, a recently graduated senior from Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., has been named the global winner of the first-ever Junior Achievement's "JA Business Ethics™" essay contest, sponsored by The John Templeton Foundation and Deloitte. Jeffrey's entry was selected from entries received from three countries: the U.S., Guatemala and Armenia. He will receive a cash prize of $3,300.

The "JA Business Ethics" essay contest fosters ethical decision-making among young people; high school students who had completed the "JA Business Ethics" program were eligible to participate. Contestants were asked to imagine that they were among a group of people stranded on an island; their job was to formulate a plan to encourage ethical decision-making among the citizens of the island as they traded resources with nearby islands. Jeffrey's essay proposed that the inhabitants of the islands work collaboratively to counteract the impact of a disease afflicting their primary food supply, fish.

The essays were judged on originality, creativity, and how well the author conceptualized and presented their ethical views and ideas. Submissions were judged at the local, regional, and global levels by a panel comprised of Deloitte staff and Junior Achievement board members.

"Jeffrey's essay demonstrated the importance of ethical behavior at both the personal and societal levels," added Sean C. Rush, president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide. "It is the responsibility of the individual to promote and foster ethical behavior and decision-making among their peers and in their community. Junior Achievement's ethics curricula provide tools to young people so that they can learn how to be positive change agents in the area of ethics."

"JA Business Ethics" is part of Deloitte’s $2 million initiative with Junior Achievement to help young people make ethical decisions. The program was developed in response to the needs of high school students and provides hands-on classroom activities and real-life applications designed to encourage ethical decision-making as students prepare to enter the workforce.

The contest's second-place winner was Arpine V. Manvelyan of Armenia. Arpine won a total cash prize of $2,300 at the local, regional, and global levels. Third place went to Edgar E. Ponce of JCCS Arcadia near San Diego, Calif. Edgar's total prize money for local, regional, and global levels was $1,300.

About JA Worldwide® (Junior Achievement)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy. Through a dedicated volunteer network, Junior Achievement provides in-school and after-school programs for students which focus on three key content areas: work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Today, 139 individual area operations reach more than four million students in the United States, with an additional 4.3 million students served by operations in 118 other countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.

About the John Templeton Foundation
The mission of the John Templeton Foundation is to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life's biggest questions. These questions range from explorations into the laws of nature and the universe to questions on the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness and creativity. Our vision is derived from John Templeton's commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship. The foundation’s motto, "How little we know, how eager to learn," exemplifies our support for open-minded inquiry and our hope for advancing human progress through breakthrough discoveries. For more information, visit www.templeton.org.

About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

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