Caesar Rodney High School Teens to Compete at Junior Achievement’s National Student Leadership Summit
Five Junior Achievement (JA) of Delaware students have been selected to compete in the JA National Business Plan Challenge and JA Company of the Year competition at Junior Achievement’s National Student Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. The students will compete with more than 100 other students from across the United States from June 16-18 in the nation’s capital.
The local students represent Caesar Rodney High School and comprise icustom INC, which was the only teen team in the country that was selected to compete in both the JA Company of the Year and the JA National Business Plan Challenge. Of over 40,000 students nationwide who participate in JA’s high school entrepreneurship experiences, these five Caesar Rodney students, Bryna Alden, McKinley Alden, Mikayla Humiston, Isha Iqbal, and Casey Thorne, represent the best and the brightest to compete in the National Student Leadership Summit. This is a huge achievement for the JA Company Program at Caesar Rodney High School as this is their third year selected to attend the National competition.
In the JA Company Program, students start and run a real business enterprise under the guidance of a volunteer from the local business community. They develop a business plan, conduct market research, devise and market a product or service, and sell stock in their company. The students at Caesar Rodney High School developed icustom INC, a company that specializes in designing, producing, and delivering custom products to end users. They take care of the entire process from the designing to delivering the end product. Examples of successful customer items include the delivery of custom t-shirts, student planners, key-chains/wristbands, and posters.
The JA Company at Caesar Rodney High School is made possible, in part, through a grant from the Roy Klein Foundation. Transportation to the competition is provided by a contribution from the volunteer advisor’s business, NKS Distributors.
As part of the JA Company of the Year competition, teen entrepreneur teams produce a commercial about their company, are interviewed by—and make a presentation to—a judging panel of business leaders, and sell their product or service in a trade fair on Capitol Hill. The trade fair will take place on Tuesday, June 17 in the Hart Senate Office Building. The event is open to the public from 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET; free refreshments will be served.
The students will compete in teams of two during the JA National Business Plan Challenge. The teams are judged on the following elements: creatively marketing to a target audience during a trade fair on Capitol Hill, and persuading potential investors during a live pitch and Q&A session. The students will be tasked with creating a business plan and infographic to present their company to the judging panel.
The winners of the JA Company of the Year and JA National Business plan Challenge, along with several other awards, will be named at a gala awards dinner at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center’s Pavilion Room the evening of June 18. The event is co-sponsored by FedEx, NYSE Euronext Foundation, Microsoft, and Sam’s Club Giving Program.
About Junior Achievement USA® (JA) and Junior Achievement of Delaware, Inc.
Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches 4.4 million students per year in 116 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.7 million students served by operations in 120 other countries worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.
Junior Achievement of Delaware serves students in the entire state of Delaware as well as students in Cecil County, Maryland and Salem County, New Jersey. In the 2012-2013 academic year, JA of Delaware served almost 15,000 students throughout its innovative in-class and experiential learning programs. JA experiences focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development.
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