60 Going on 600,000!

Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties is celebrating our 60^th Anniversary throughout 2010.  To capture the real-life history JASD has created, we are focused on finding our alumni who can share their stories about their experience with JA, how it impacted their knowledge of business and ultimately their lives. 

"This effort goes a long way towards proving the quantitative value of our mission and our work," said Joanne Pastula, President & CEO, JA San Diego.  "We're using our 60^th Anniversary to look back at our success and also look forward to continuing building the resources to reach the 600,000 kids in San Diego and Imperial Counties."

Alumni Quest 2010: What's Your Story?

In keeping with the celebration of our 60^th year serving San Diego & Imperial Counties, we are looking for our 60 most successful JA alumni! Success can be defined in many ways and we hope to tell a full and rich story about the positive impact JA has in the lives of its participants and the community as a whole. An alumna is someone who participated in any of JA's programs when they were in school.

We are taking nominations for the most successful alumni on our website: www.jasandiego.org/alumni. Alumni Quest 2010 will culminate with the "Sixty for Success" recognition event hosted by Junior Achievement and the University Club this summer! San Diego Metropolitan Magazine will feature honorees in their June 2010 edition.

JA will  be producing a series of TV and radio commercials  featuring prominent JA alumni telling their story first hand to help recruit more alumni and continue to build this network.  Look for those videos on  our Facebook fan page and our updated website. 

If you are an alumnus, or know of one, please contact Jacqui Pernicano right away so they can participate in this program: 619-682-5155, x103.

25th Annual Bowl-A-Thon Has Big Dreams

As kids, we all had some pretty big ideas of what we wanted to be when we grew up. JA Bowl-A-Thon is celebrating that imaginative spirit with:

JA Bowl-A-Thon is a really great team building event and a ton of fun for everyone that participates, not to mention, a major way that JA is able to reach over 40,000 San Diego and Imperial County students with our financial responsibility, workforce readiness and business ethics programs!

The great thing about Bowl-A-Thon is that the time, date and place are in your hands. The bowling events are set up between March 6^th through May 16^th and we work with bowling centers across San Diego County!

Companies recruit teams of five bowlers who then raise pledges to support JA.  We ask that each bowler raise at least $25, plus a $20 registration fee, and prize eligibility starts at $150. 

Billy Casper Golf Classic to Benefit JA

World renowned golfer, Billy Casper, hosts his well-known tournament to benefit children's non-profits on May 3^rd at the exclusive San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista. Proceeds from the tournament will support Junior Achievement, Boys & Girls Clubs of San Diego and the Music Machine.

BizTown Summer Camp For 5th and 6th Graders

Due to the overwhelming success of last year's BizTown Summer Camp, we are extending this year's camp to two weeklong sessions to accommodate more campers! Not only will campers still get to draw up their own designs for product inventions, interview for jobs, get a paycheck, make financial decisions and work a full day as CEO, CFO, reporter, DJ or other important job at BizTown, we've added another special treat! 

The 2010 Summer Camp will feature a full day on board the USS Midway.  The trip is intended to illustrate how their work, education and imagination are vital contributions to the larger community.

Three San Diego Titan Teams Win Laptops

24 teams of three from schools all over San Diego competed December 11^th in the 3^rd Annual JA Titans of Industry Challenge, in which the top performing teams from each school compete in a virtual marketplace to see whose company will come out on top. The online simulation allows kids to develop a fictional hologram generator and make decisions regarding research and development, marketing, hiring practices, production and pricing   "Even the teachers get competitive at the event!" said Elyssa Jeter, JA San Diego's Senior Education Manager.   

Clairemont High School won this year's competition, and the top 3 teams won laptops donated by Computers2SanDiegoKids. A special thank you to Jack in the Box and National University for being the title sponsors of the event and to all the team sponsors as well: Bank of America, Todd Gutschow, e-Bookkeeping Mission Federal Credit Union and Dan Nagle.

Selecting 2010 Laureates, March 17th

Junior Achievement San Diego's 60 Lifetime Laureates will gather on March 17^th to nominate and select this year's San Diego Business Hall of Fame honorees. San Diego Business Hall of Fame Laureates are selected by their peers for excellence in business and outstanding philanthropic endeavors! Their careers and community contributions personify the ideals of Junior Achievement and are emblematic of the lessons of our programs.

Nominations are being  accepted from the community and JA's Board of Directors through March 12, 2010.