• Through fund raising efforts, thousands of students in Middle Tennessee will experience Junior Achievement in their classrooms and in JA BizTown.
• The Bowl-a-Thon provides experiences for team building, networking, and FUN!

Dogs Rule!

We are proud to welcome Mars Petcare, producers of PEDIGREE® pet food, as the five-year sponsor of JA BizTown's Pet Store.  This new sponsorship in JA BizTown is instrumental in helping Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee continue to provide our unique, hands-on learning experience that will reach more than 8,000 elementary and middle school students this year.

Mars Petcare/PEDIGREE®

In the United States alone, there are more than 58 million dogs and 71 million cats.  As you can imagine, the love for dogs and cats is big business at Mars Petcare. The company, which manufactures PEDIGREE® dog food has been a trusted pet food partner of choice for decades, and continues to grow as the world's best quality and most customer-friendly pet care business.  In fact, last year they sold more than 500 million pounds of food for dogs in the U.S.

Headquartered in Franklin, TN, Mars Petcare is also a staple of influence in pet nutrition and research, earning a reputation among pet owners, breeders, veterinarians and academics worldwide as a leading scientific authority in pet nutrition.  

Mars Petcare and PEDIGREE® recognize that teamwork makes the company strong and that people make the business happen. In all of the company's business dealings, the company adheres to the Mars Five Principles of quality, responsibility, mutuality, efficiency and freedom. They strive to create an environment that offers unlimited opportunities for their associates and a culture that promotes individual growth and team success.

As you can see, these principles are a great match with those of JA of Middle Tennessee.  The five-year, $50,000 sponsorship of JA BizTown's Pet Store by Mars Petcare and PEDIGREE ® will not only allow us to meet the needs of today's students, but to also ensure that we will continue to provide this innovative learning opportunity that is so instrumental in preparing the workforce of the future.

Did you know what you wanted to do with your life when you were in 10^th grade? Well, every 10^th grader at McGavock Comprehensive High School had the chance through the new JA Careers with a Purpose program. This 7 session program introduces students to the importance of seeking careers that help them realize their life potential and noble purpose. The program demonstrates the significance of positive values, life maxims, and ethical decision-making within the context of career and life decisions.

This potentially life-changing program would have not been available to these students without the leadership of Karen Hunter-Lowery and Gaylord Hotels. Karen has been with Gaylord for 14 years and is currently the Manager of Employee Events & Communications at Gaylord Hotels. She has been a JA Corporate Liaison and has served as a coordinator for our Music City Bowl-a-Thon event since 2005.

Youth education is a main focus of Gaylord's community involvement. They are PENCIL partners with Pennington Elementary, Two Rivers Middle and McGavock High Schools and donated over 10,000 items to these schools this year alone. They even provide a bus for McGavock's football team so they can travel to away games in style.

In August, Metro Nashville Public Schools decided that every student in Nashville should receive JA Careers with a Purpose. This was great news for us but at the same time, we knew it would be a challenge to find the volunteers needed to teach all the classes. McGavock High, which had limited JA participation in the past, wanted to be a pilot site. We contacted Karen and she was very excited about the opportunity to further develop their relationship with McGavock. In only a month, she recruited 25 Gaylord employees to teach the classes.

When asked why Gaylord feels this program benefits Gaylord employees and McGavock students alike, she says, "The opportunity to meet with students in our community who can potentially become our future employees is intriguing. Any program that stresses the importance of staying in school, financial literacy, and workplace readiness is one for which we want to be involved. By going into the classrooms, we are giving the students the ability to put faces to our company. We have some wonderful people working at Gaylord Entertainment, so this gives us a chance to allow these people to be showcased in our community. Gaylord employees share a loyalty to the communities in which we do business. The JA Careers with a Purpose program gives us a chance to act on that belief."

Junior Achievement would like to thank Karen Hunter-Lowery and Gaylord Entertainment for their valuable contributions to our organization and the youth of Middle Tennessee. If you would like your company to be more involved in JA or learn more about serving as a JA Corporate Liaison, please contact Kim Wormann at kimw@janash.com or 615-627-1185.