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Contact:
Stephanie Bell
Junior Achievement USA™
(719) 540-6171
sbell@ja.org
Twitter: @JA_USA

For Immediate Release:
August 1, 2011

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, TEENS WIN 2011 NORTH AMERICAN
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR COMPETITION

Teen entrepreneurs take regional title by leveraging social media to promote their company

Colorado Springs, Colo. - On Thursday at Washington, D.C.'s George Washington University, Junior Achievement selected the teen entrepreneurs who own and operate "L.Y.M.E" ("Leave Your Mark Everywhere") the winners of the 2011 North American JA Company of the Year Competition, from 14 other competing U.S. and Canadian student companies. The event culminated in meetings between the U.S. teen entrepreneurs and their Congressional Members and staff on Capitol Hill, and with U.S. Small Business Administration head Karen Mills.

Team "L.Y.M.E," representing St. Paul's High School for the Recording Arts, produced customized radio commercials for their clients and aired them on the school's radio program.
Kurtis Greenwood, 18, L.Y.M.E.'s marketing vice president, said, "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."
Second place in the competition was awarded to "Eco-Eventerprise" from the Harmonium Epicentre after-school program in San Diego, Calif. This student company created artwork and event centerpieces from recycled materials.

Third place was won by Viking Enterprises Division 12, from Hoover High School, in North Canton, Ohio. These teen entrepreneurs created and sold themed t-shirts and letter-art photography frames.

The annual North American JA Company of the Year Competition is a contest of business skills, ingenuity and innovation that focuses on the accomplishments of U.S. and Canadian JA Company Program© students, ages 15-19, during the 2010-2011 academic year. Currently reaching more than 380,000 young people a year globally, JA Company Program gives teens the skills to start and run their own businesses under the mentorship of a local business volunteer.

The teen-run companies participated in a trade fair where they promoted and sold their products and pitched their companies to a panel of judges comprised of business leaders. The companies were evaluated on their financial performance, their presentation to the judging panel and, in a new addition to this year's event, on a commercial they self-produced and posted on Facebook. Junior Achievement students currently use JA Company Program Social-a Facebook application-to discuss and help run their student companies. An additional award was presented to the JA student company whose commercial received the most Facebook "likes"-"Kinextions" from The Chinese Community Center, in Houston. Kinextions' commercial received 786 "likes."

"The North American JA Company of the Year Competition is an exciting opportunity for Junior Achievement students to demonstrate the teamwork, leadership and innovative thinking that will help them drive success in the business world," said Jack E. Kosakowski, president and chief executive officer of Junior Achievement USA. "Through this competition, Junior Achievement is empowering these teen entrepreneurs to own their economic success through business ownership."

About Junior Achievement® (JA)
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, 124 individual area operations reach four million students in the United States, with an additional six million students served by operations in 120 other countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.

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