Junior Achievement Celebration

On October 4^th I had the great privilege of attending the 2012 Celebrate Junior Achievement event.   Junior Achievement Citrus is the local branch of Junior Achievement USA.

Dennis Miller, General Manager of WYKE, was the Master of Ceremonies and speakers included; Frank DiGiovanni, City Manager of Inverness; Diane Smith, Junior Achievement; Superintendent Sandra “Sam” Himmel, Citrus County School District and Inverness Middle School teacher, Fariella Cook.  These speakers spoke of the mission and successes of the JA program in our community and our schools.  While these speakers did an excellent job conveying the mission of JA it was truly the next group of student presenters and speakers that had the greatest impact on the audience.  Brenden Bonomo, Assistant Principal of Forest Ridge Elementary School brought a group of student performers that included Andrew Cartwright, Alden Hudak, Frederick Jewell, Tristen King, Emily Pace, and Ashlynn Pozzi.  The FRE students did a powerful skit based on the television program, “Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader”  The answer was NO.  Fifth graders had JA members to assist them in learning about becoming enterprisers.   The most powerful message of the morning was given by a Citrus High School student and JA participant, Kelly Bradford.  Miss Bradford shared how much of an influential encouragement and impact JA has played on her life in teaching, her personal choices and economic management skills.  Her personal story was uplifting and inspirational.

JA is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experimental hands-on programs.  Junior Achievement is a volunteer driven, non-profit organization. This year more than 2,000 business professionals, parents, retirees and college students will enter our schools to teach Junior Achievement Programs. These volunteers use their personal experiences to make the Junior Achievement Curriculum both practical and realistic. Providing children with positive adult role models who illustrate ways to build self-confidence, develop skills and find avenues of success in our free enterprise system, is a hallmark of Junior Achievement.

If you are a teacher in Citrus County, I encourage you to learn more about JA and how they can be incorporated into your classroom and studies.

If you are interested in learning more about JA in Citrus County, or would like to volunteer or donate to JA, visit their web site at: www.jacitrus.org

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