Junior Achievement of New York: Helping Kids Live Up to their Potential

Education is the key to success; however, there are valuable lessons in life that kids don’t learn in school. These lessons may spell the difference between mediocrity and excellence. Those who learn lessons outside of the classroom have a leg up over students that just concentrate on books and grades. Junior Achievement New York (JA New York) is a non-profit organization that aims to teach kids as young as kindergarteners the value of making the right academic and economic choices that would affect their future.

Founded in 1929, JA New York is the local affiliate of JA USA. Since its inception, the organization has been delivering programs that would empower students from New York City and Long Island and help them make the right decisions as they navigate their way through school towards a better, more stable economic future. JA New York offers core classroom programs tailor made for elementary, middle, and high school students. These programs are designed to enhance the social studies curriculum in terms of state and city standards. The lessons include topics on economics, life skills, business, and communication, and are delivered in a way that students in each grade level would understand and absorb. The idea behind these programs is to prepare kids for the changing world. In today’s global economy, students need more tools in order to succeed and JA New York’s classroom programs aim to equip them with just that.

Selected high school students are also invited to volunteer to help and give back to their respective communities. Some of them are also chosen to speak to students in the elementary level and become role models to them. Other programs delivered by JA New York include opportunities for personal and professional development. These programs include job shadowing, interactive games, after school programs, and a range of annual events participated in by the students.