JA Fellows - Third year's a charm

Thursday night was the JA Fellows Awards Ceremony, the culminating event of the 2008-2009 program year. I have had the honor of working with this program over the past three years and helping it to grow from 115 students in 2007 to 220 students in 2009. The video above includes some highlights from the JA Fellows Expo that took place on April 18. The Expo is the day that all companies compete and display their accomplishments throughout the year and it was an awesome event.

At the Awards Ceremony on Thursday, we honored all of the students in the program who represent 15 JA Fellows Companies and awarded prizes to the individuals and companies who won awards from the JA Fellows Expo. Together, these students earned over $30,000 in sales over the course of 16 weeks, from October 2008 to March 2009. As if it is not enough for high school students to have started 15 companies and sold $30,000 worth of products in such a short time period, it is also important to note that these students accomplished all of this during the worst economic climate of our lifetimes. It is an exceptional feat!

Beyond the particulars of these students' collective successes, it has been a real joy to watch individual students grow and learn throughout their involvement as JA Fellows. Students deal with many obstacles from communication to motivation to personal challenges, and still they persevere to achieve great things. I have been priviledged to develop personal, and hopefully lasting, relationships with students and their families throughout my three years with the JA Fellows. Working with these students has brought me great joy and personal fulfillment and I am grateful to all of them and to Junior Achievement for providing me the opportunity to develop this important program. The successes of the JA Fellows could not have been possible without the efforts of many people: JA Staff - Sunil, Joy, Laura, Jack and many others, JA volunteers, JA Board Members, and the financial/volunteer support of many individuals, organizations, and corporations.

My work at JA has helped me to see that I have a passion for empowering others through education and economic development and I will be applying that passion in new ways while in Guatemala. I will also be using some of the products that our JA Fellows created this year! When I visited Edd in March, I took a Project My World bag, thinking that he could use its convenient size and toting ability. It was a huge hit and people have asked that I bring more back when I return. I also have my JUMP bracelet and my Twelve Fingers water bottle to take with me. Information about the 2008-2009 JA Fellows companies is here http://www.jafellows.com/companies.

Until June, you can also vote in the first ever JA Fellows Video Challenge! This contest highlights three videos that our JA Fellows created this year about their experiences: http://www.jafellows.com/video-challenge/.

I am exploring the possibility of having students from the school in SMT participate in the JA Company Program themselves once I am there. If it will work, you'll be sure to hear about it here!

Thank you to all the students, families, friends and supporters of the JA Fellows who have enriched my life over these last three years. I am extremely grateful.