JA partners making a difference in children's lives
JAHV in the News
Verizon Communications Inc.: Verizon Foundation Awards Grants of More Than $135,000 to 25 Westchester Nonprofit Organizations
2011-2012 News
November 2011: Pennington Elementary School JA in a Day
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The first JA in a Day of the year kicked off at Pennington Elementary School in Mount Vernon.
Volunteers from Kraft Foods, US Alliance FCU, Verizon and Fosina Marketing Group guided the students through a fast-paced day filled with activities to bring the work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills to life.
300 students in grades Kindergarten through sixth received the program, focusing on such topics as in demand career skills and how money moves through a community. The classroom mentors brought their professional experience and enthusiasm as role models, working with the students to connect the dots between learning and their successful futures, encouraging them to stay in school, and work towards reaching their full potential.
Photos from the day are available on our Facebook page
October 2011: AT&T Kicks off Final Year of Job Shadow Partnership
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At the end of October, twelfth graders from Mr. Cheraskin’s class at Gorton High School in Yonkers stepped behind the scenes through JA Job Shadow at AT&T in White Plains.
Kicking off the final year of a five year partnership, the AT&T Job Shadow is an opportunity for students to explore career opportunities and work readiness skills at the telecommunications giant.
With pre-visit activities, the students prepared for the day by examining their own skills and interests, exploring their career interests, and even preparing a resume.
The day of the visit, students gathered at the AT&T site, welcomed by Director of Network OPS Centers Joe Zayak, workplace coordinator Vanessa Veira and the team of network and customer service technicians. The students were introduced to the company, the history, and the customer service perspective of the business, a much different side of the company than the cell phone and internet dependant students were familiar with.
The students were then matched up with the AT&T Mentors, who shared not only their day to day job functions, but their own road to success to help students connect the relevance of their education to their potential futures. Students observed the workplace behavior, communication styles, and the work environment and engaged in dialogue with their mentors about careers and their own skills and behavior.
Following the Job Shadow office experience, the students had the opportunity to see the Electronic Switching System (4ESS) center where calls are transmitted, and were immersed in the technology which makes their day-to-day communications possible.
At the end of the day, the class left the site with a better understanding of AT&T and its functions as well as the chatter of which potential careers they will be exploring as they take the next step in their lives.
The AT&T/JA Worldwide Job Shadow partnership was formed in 2008, as part of AT&T’s Aspire Initiative to address the growing concern of the high-school dropout rate. This is Junior Achievement’s largest corporate Job Shadow to date, with, over 82,000 students participating across 211 cities. AT&T employees contributing over 225,000 volunteer hours to the initiative. By the end of this project, the partnership will reach 100,000 students from AT&T’s philanthropic commitment to improve high school success.
August 2011: Global JA Titan Competition Heats Up in Purchase
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In August, JA of the Hudson Valley and MasterCard Worldwide had the pleasure to host students from around the world at the final round of the 2011 JA Titan Global Competition.
Held at Manhattanville College in Purchase, and sponsored by MasterCard, eight teams – six from China, one from Kazakhstan and one from Russia – emerged from the preliminary and semi-final rounds of competition, defeating competitors from around the globe to advance to the ultimate mogul-to-mogul showdown.
The battlefield: JA Titan®, Junior Achievement’s online simulation that allows teams of high school and university students to act as chief executive officers of virtual manufacturing companies. The weapons: quick financial decision making and critical thinking based on the skills students have developed through their Junior Achievement experience. The victor: the team that earns the highest performance index. The competitors are prompted to make decisions that affect the profitability and sustainability of their virtual company and attempt to outperform their competitors in profit, sales, and market share.
In the end, the winning team from China named Heaven899 walked away with the top prize and the title of JA Global Titan for 2011. Kudos to all who participated!
Also participating in a friendly round of competition were past and present JAHV board members:
Read more on ja.org about the competition and the winners
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June 2011: Hudson Heritage FCU Steps Up to Mentor Students at Mechanicstown
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This spring, employees from Hudson Heritage Federal Credit Union (HHFCU) step out of the bank and into the classroom to teach work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to fifth graders at Mechanicstown Elementary School in Middletown, NY. Partnering with the Junior Achievement of the Hudson Valley (JAHV), HHFCU volunteers offer their own career experience and know-how to help students envision a successful future for themselves, encourage entrepreneurial thinking, and to help them take the first steps to achieve more in life.
Hudson Heritage Service Center Manager Toni Tierney reflects on the partnership saying, “The volunteers at Hudson Heritage are proud and honored to be part of the Junior Achievement organization where we are able to mentor and enjoy the inspiring youth of today.”
Through Junior Achievement’s fifth grade program Our Nation, students discover the world of business with an emphasis on high growth, high demand careers, and the importance of STEM skills-science, technology, engineering and math, in today’s ever-changing world. Exploring topics such as resources, resumes and globalization from within their own nation, students are engaged in activities, bringing concepts to life.
From a game demonstrating today’s evolving technology to the web of global resources needed to create a product, students complete the program better equipped for the requirements their future career choices will demand.
“For our first lesson we had the students put on their entrepreneur hats and create different products or services for specific businesses. It was wonderful to see how creative the students were able to become and how much information they attained after listening to the lessons and playing games,” said Bryanna Levine, Branch Supervisor at Hudson Heritage.
Hudson Heritage will be delivering the program to over 120 students, with close to 500 students in total receiving the Junior Achievement program at Mechanicstown. This is the first time the credit union has participated in the program, with the effort led by Bryanna Levine, Branch Supervisor at Hudson Heritage’s Middletown office. Ms. Levine has taught Junior Achievement in Albany area schools during and after her attendance at SUNY Albany.
The Hudson Heritage volunteers bring their banking experience to motivate students to envision a potential future for themselves, and to encourage entrepreneurial thinking. By connecting what they are learning in the classroom to their future goals, students see the relevance of their education, helping them make smart decisions for their futures, and learning the steps to be successful in life.
Lyda O’Shea, Accounting Coordinator at Hudson Heritage acknowledged the attentive and inquisitive nature of her fifth grade class. “This experience is inspiring to myself as well as the students. Their knowledge, participation, ideas, creativity & enthusiasm is quite reassuring. It validates that they have an understanding of the importance of business and economics in our lives,” she said.
The Junior Achievement program has been running at Mechanicstown Elementary School for over 15 years, reflecting upon the innovative learning environment the school’s administration encourages for its diverse population of students.
December 2010: AT&T Steps Up to Work Readiness through Job Shadow
Howard Brown, Area Manager Networks OPS CTR at AT&T spoke to the students, encouraging them to step past stereotypes and obstacles. He said about their futures. “Regardless of your background and education, your determination and commitment can get you far in life.”
Mentors from AT&T not only shared their career background and job function, but challenged the students by having a two-way interview. The students asked the mentors a variety of questions to get a sense of their career, and in return, the mentors asked the students about their own skills, future plans, accomplishments, etc.
Ranging from 30 years down to four months, each AT&T mentor brought something different to the picture and the students got to see a different side of AT&T than what they thought they knew. The site hosts the corporate customer service segment of AT&T. They support clients such as JP Morgan and Marriott with their telephone and internet systems. Students learned about the support systems of those who keep the big corporations up and running, observing everything from workplace dress and etiquette to how an agent deals with an irate customer.
They also saw a little bit of AT&T’s rich history by visiting the 4ESS center which hosts the Electronic Switching System, developed in the mid 1970’s and comprises the foundation of AT&T’s services. Seeing the rows and rows of cables and electronics which make up the network, students tried to see the connection between this network and their cell phones or internet providers.
The bottom line for students was that they saw the connection between what they are learning in school to their future careers. For this next generation of workers, Mr. Brown gave his recommendation that education is key to becoming more valuable in the marketplace. He said, “People make our country competitive globally.”
For photos from the events, visit our Facebook page
November 2010: Featured in the November 4th and 7th, 2010 editions of the Journal News, the Junior Achievement "Step Up" campaign was featured as part of the the newspaper's Give and Grow program. Jeri Froehlich of Froehlich Bonini Associates was chosen for her design helping to increase awareness for JA in the Hudson Valley.
Junior Achievement "Step Up" Ad (PDF)
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