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2014-15 Annual Report
The 2014-15 annual report (60th anniversary edition) will be released online in late October. Stay tuned for updates on our website at www.jabc.org!
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2015 Business in Vancouver Forty Under 40
Congrats to our friends Meredith J. Powell and Karina Hayat for making this year's BIV Forty Under 40 .
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| We want your story! Are you a former Junior Achiever?
We want to know your story! Celebrate 60 years of inspiration with us by sharing your JA story. Help us share with others how JA has transformed your life and the lives of others across BC.
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Welcome back!
September flew by so quickly and I can't believe it's October already. Much has happened over the past few months here at JA British Columbia (JABC) that has helped us kick-start the new school year:
All these events and recent developments led us to celebrate Small Business Month this October. Did you know that 98% of businesses in British Columbia are classified as small businesses? That is the impetus behind what we do at JA. Small Business Month reminds us why it is important to prepare our youth in BC for the type of business world they will enter into. At JA, our three pillars of education are financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship, and Small Business Month affirms our need and focus on entrepreneurship in the programs we deliver to our youth today.
We look forward to continual partnership with our volunteers, teachers and donors who have made free and accessible business education possible for BC youth over the past 60 years. We are on a mission to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in today's global economy!
Jan Bell-Irving
President & CEO
JA British Columbia
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The Honourable Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia, with
BLBC Laureates, JA students, BLBC Co-Chairs Barbara Brink
and Jim Shepard, and JABC President & CEO Jan Bell-Irving |
JABC created the BLBC Hall of Fame in 2005 to honour the BC business leaders whose efforts have shaped our province and country. In recognition of the 10th anniversary of the Hall of Fame and its 60 Laureate members, a new site has been built at the Vancouver Convention Centre West. The new site, designed by BC-based artists Cheryl Hamilton and Michael Vandermeer, features a towering glass BC Business Laureates "Wall of Fame," an information kiosk honouring its members, and a specially commissioned sculpture "Shape of Inspiration."
The evening featured remarks from speakers including Jefferson Mooney, Chairman, A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. and BLBC Laureate, and the Honourable Christy Clark, Premier of BC, who helped officiate the unveiling of the curtains revealing the Laureate "Wall of Fame" and "Shape of Inspiration" sculpture.
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Tom Scinocca, JA alumnus; Cybele Negris, Vice Chair, Small Business
RoundTable; Minister Coralee Oaks, Ministry of Small Business and
Red Tape Reduction; John Yap, Parliamentary Secretary;
Deborah Wakeham, JABC Regional Manager, Vancouver Island |
What a great way to kick off celebrations of Small Business Month in October this year! We announced the launch of the new Celebrate Entrepreneurship Award in partnership with the
Ministry of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction and Responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch earlier on October 1st at the BC Legislature in Victoria. The new award, offered via our
Company program, will recognize the Student Company that demonstrates the most innovation in their business. The winning company and recipient of a $3,000 cash prize will be awarded at our awards ceremony - Celebrate JA! - in June, 2016.
Our Regional Manager, Vancouver Island - Deborah Wakeham - delivered remarks on behalf of JABC, thanking the Ministry for their partnership in the creation of the new award. Tom Scinocca, JA alumnus, spoke about his experience as a young entrepreneur and the impact JA programs has made on him.
"With the creation of the Celebrating Entrepreneurship Award, Junior Achievement will be able to attract more student involvement in our business education programs that ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in our youth and teach them practical skills needed to develop viable business ventures. We are honoured and grateful for the support of the Ministry in helping us deliver more education opportunities to our youth to build leaders of tomorrow." - Jan Bell-Irving, President & CEO, JABC.
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JABC NGL Award winners and conference team (Maya Gay, Alisa Tatham,
Robyn Sahota, Jessica Nguyen and Felix He) |
Five BC students accompanied by JABC program staff members participated in the
Next Generation Leaders Forum (NGL) - JA Canada's international student conference - in Peterborough, Ontario from August 10-14. The students - Maya Gay, Alisa Tatham, Robyn Sahota, Jessica Nguyen and Felix He - are the BC winners of this year's NGL award announced earlier in June.
The annual
JA Canada NGL Forum helps students build their leadership, creativity, team work and business skills through real-life business challenges while collaborating with their global peers. Students attended presentations, workshops and team-building activities and on the final day, each team presented their business solution in the challenge to a panel of judges.
Our students connected with over 120 student delegates from around the world. They returned from the conference inspired and full of ideas. To them, the experience was eye-opening, transformational and even life-changing. Here is what some of them said about their experience:
"The team I was a part of at the conference was named Everest, because we believed 'it takes a team to reach the top.' It was so difficult to part ways on the last team meeting, there were many hugs and tears involved." Jessica Nguyen, Killarney Secondary, Vancouver
"The forum was one of the most fulfilling weeks of my life and I will never forget what I learned from the week. NGL allowed me to network and working as part of a team with like-minded students from around the world, hear from business professionals and work together with my team to reach an end goal." - Alisa Tatham, Georges P. Vanier Secondary, Courtenay
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 JABC is excited to introduce three new programs this fall!
Two are refreshed versions of our very popular Our Business World (grades 5-6) and Economics for Success (grades 9-10).
JA is committed to refreshing and refining programs like these to provide students with the most relevant, high-quality offerings aimed at incorporating 21st century skills and current financial and workplace data.
Over the 2014-15 school year, JA volunteers, business experts, educators and staff from across Canada engaged in a collaborative process to bring these programs up-to-date.
In the new program versions, JA's focus on experiential, hands-on learning is strengthened with a wider mix of individual, group and class activities. New digital resources have been integrated throughout the lessons, enabling volunteers to provide an enriched multimedia experience in the classroom.
For both returning and new volunteers, we
offer a number of ways to learn the new versions, from in-person orientations to live webinars in a narrated slide deck that you can view at your convenience.
Our third new offering is Be Entrepreneurial which takes high school students in grades 10-12 through the preliminary stages of planning their own entrepreneurial venture. Over the course of four one-hour sessions, each student decides on a product or service, defines their competitive advantage, focuses on their target market, and outlines the next steps to develop their business. Videos featuring successful Canadian entrepreneurs are featured to stimulate discussion. The program culminates with a classroom competition in which each student pitches his/her business idea to fellow classmates, the teacher and an entrepreneurial expert from the community.
If you are a teacher wishing to host any of our programs, or a businessperson wishing to volunteer, contact your local Program Manager or visit our website for more information:
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The website serves as a portal for celebrating JABC's history over the last 60 years, showcasing stories of our alumni across BC who share with us how JA has transformed their lives.
Are you a former Junior Achiever, or do you know someone who is? We are looking for more alumni stories. Please
share with us how JA has made a difference in your life!
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