And why you should consider joining him in the classroom.
Austin (community) this is my personal invitation asking you to get involved with exposing & educating young adult students toward entrepreneurial learning. It's a wonderful and meaningful way to give back to our Austin business community and create the next generation of SMB rising stars and leaders. I have been committed to JA since 2016.
Junior Achievement is looking for 30 volunteers for the fall semester. I have been at Canyon Vista Middle School (Spicewood Springs and 183) one of the the Round Rock Middle Schools for 8 years. JA will be in 11 campuses this coming school year. Suzannah Gravatt is the Austin District Director so please reach reach out to her if interested. https://www.jacentex.org/ja-volunteer
Your time commitment starts with picking a day in the week that works best for you. Class time is 50 minutes. You will select either a middle or high school and if like past years we will start in early October and end in mid April.
Junior Achievement has a 6 week module in the fall which is an "Intro into Entrepreneurship" called JA It's My Business. Each week, with your ID and password JA provides a manual, slides, video's, Q&A and self help support for the 6 sessions which are: Entrepreneurs - Market & Need - Innovative ideas - Design & Prototype - Testing the Market - Seek Funding and It's My Business get them ready for the 13 week JA Company Program session.
Junior Achievement's Company Program is the spring semester and is 13 weeks long. In past years we start just before the December two week break enabling students to come back in January ready, willing and able. Again, as a volunteer and with your ID and password, you will provide direction and give the students the necessary leadership information, guidance and direction to run a company.
It's a heartfelt experience seeing 12 to14 year old 8th graders become stake holders by investing their own money from $5 to $50, and with your direction and experience select a product or service, create colorful flyers, descriptive sales order forms, source the product, manage inventory, create a business banking account, sell and distribute inventory, encouraging the Leadership Team to hold weekly "report out sessions" from the 5 departments focused on "what have we done last week" and "what do we need to do this week" to stay on plan, let their objectives and then dissolve the company and pay stake holders back their investment plus the profits of their business enterprise experience.
At Canyon Vista Middle School the 5 departments are Finance, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain and Mgmt & Leadership. Class size is from 20 to 26 students and after they complete the aptitude assessment you and they will break themselves in to 5 groups of 3 to 5 individuals in each department.
Adding your business & personal experience and then seeing individuals become team players and contributors has been one of my year-over-year rewarding accomplishments. This past year my class selected Animal Grams, little fuzzy animals with a hook to attach to backpacks. They sold them for $3 each and 2 for $5. They funded their business with close to $400 and after paying their expenses, netted a 100% net profit in 13 weeks.
Thanks for your interest and please give this some serious consideration. We need you, your network and your neighbors to make this the BEST EVER year for JA Austin.
-Ed Stillman, Senior Chair Vistage, Austin Texas
