| Who We Are |
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3150 De La Cruz Blvd #103
Santa Clara, CA 95054
408-988-8915
Serving Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties |
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Get Involved!
We urgently need volunteers to teach business, economics, entrepreneurship,
and workforce readiness to local middle and high school students. To find out how YOU can make a difference, please contact:
Debbie Gale at
Nikki Ashley at
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"WE'RE BACK!" Former JA high school participants join JA team
Education Manager Tiffany Hetherington Bailey and Marketing & Development Intern Melrose Cacal are no strangers to the Junior Achievement Family. Both young women attended Accel Middle College as JA students, where they participated in JA Economics, Job Shadow Day, and service learning. Now, they join Junior Achievement's Silicon Valley and Monterey team to continue their support for education and business.
Tiffany graduated from UCSC with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Education. Her work as a Case Manager for EHC Lifebuilders will help her in her exciting new position at Junior Achievement.
"I love working in non-profit organizations," says Bailey, who coordinates Junior Achievement's service learning program delivery, volunteer training, and support at local Santa Clara County's high schools. "I look forward in creating positive educational experiences for our youth."
Melrose Cacal, a Communications Major and soon-to-be graduate at Santa Clara University, is in her fourth year assisting with the planning and organization of the Business Hall of Fame and helps write press releases and media alerts. Among her current projects, she is creating a marketing handbook for the JA Staff.
"I have an extreme loyalty towards Junior Achievement," says Cacal. "Not only has my participation gained me a Community Relations Internship at NBC11 in 2005, but my work here at JA has allowed me to practice my journalism, marketing, and event planning skills."
The Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay staff is thrilled to have them aboard their team.
As Bailey and Cacal both say, "We are advocates of Junior Achievement for life." |
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It will be a NO "April Fools Day" Celebration for Silicon Valley Business Laureates
April 1, 2008
Please join us for dinner at the San Jose Fairmont to honor five outstanding laureates who have set an example of business and community leadership.
Ned Barholt
Chairman Emeritus,
Former President & CEO
of Agilent Technologies
Aart de Gues
Chairman & CEO of
Synopsys, Inc.
Marilyn Pratt
Founding Board Member of the Tech Museum of Innovation
John Thompson
Chairman & CEO of Symantec Corporation
Ken Wilcox
President & CEO of
SVB Financial Group
Emceed by NBC11's, Janice Edwards, the festivities will begin with a Student and Laureate Town Hall Meeting. 20 laureates will kick off the evening onstage, celebrating the 110 laureates inducted over the past twenty-two years.
Sponsorship levels are available from $5,000 - $30,000. Tables are available for $3,000 and individual seats for $300.
This is a great opportunity to honor some of the renowned business and community leaders in Silicon Valley while supporting Junior Achievement's programs.
Current sponsors include
SVB Financial Group
Symantec
Applied Materials, Inc., Cisco Systems, Comerica Bank, KLA-Tencor
Agilent Technologies, Barry Swenson Builder, Brandenburg Family Foundation, Cassatt Corporation, Ernst & Young, Hopkins & Carley, HSBC, Intel, Manpower and Xilinx.
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| Greetings!
Spring is here and we are back with another update on the impact of JA programs, upcoming events, and recognition of outstanding contributions individuals and organizations for to JA's success. |
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| State Farm Inspires Youth
Volunteers Honored for Community Efforts
State Farm Insurance does more than just provide Americans with insurance and financial services, it also works hard to serve youth in their community.
On February 1, 2008, State Farm Insurance celebrated its fourth year hosting Junior Achievement's Groundhog Job Shadow Day at its San Jose Operations office. More than 30 Independence High School students toured State Farm's departments and participated in "Interactive Learning Sessions" where associates explained how each unit works.
State Farm also serves as a role model for other corporations honoring volunteers.
On January 29, 2008, State Farm honored their JA volunteers at Bella Mia Restaurant for educating nearly 400 students on essential workforce skills. The company has worked primarily with Hispanic students, helping them to better understand their role in the community.
"We want to partner with Junior Achievement to help our associates be more culturally aware of issues in our population. I watch successful leaders I admire and they tend to be people who give back to the community. Developing both associates I work with and giving to programs like JA is personally rewarding when you see others accomplish the goals they aspire to." said Rebecca Bowen, who serves on Junior Achievement's Board of Directors and was responsible for coordinating the first Job Shadow Day hosted by State Farm.
In addition to increasing volunteer participation, Bowen hopes to continue the growth of State Farm's community-based projects. |
| JA Reaches out to the Hispanic Community
As the number of Hispanic residents continues to grow in Silicon Valley, JA has teamed up with San Jose Unified School District to match requested classes with Hispanic volunteers and increase its presence in 'high need' schools.
With 47% of JA students Hispanic and only 12% of our JA volunteers of the same ethnicity, the Hispanic Initiative was created to provide at-risk Hispanic students with Hispanic role models to guide them through Junior Achievement's programs.
In December of last year, the San Jose Unified School District hosted an Hispanic Advisory Board Breakfast at the district office. Representatives and business leaders were invited in an effort to increase awareness of JA programs in the Hispanic community and generate more Hispanic volunteers.
The Hispanic Advisory Board is seeking new sources of volunteers in student groups at San Jose State and Santa Clara Universities, entry-level business people, and people in professional groups. Under the chairmanship of Gustavo De La Torre of the Santa Clara Valley Water District and with the support of committee members Elizabeth Bliss, San Jose Unified School District; Rudy Rodriguez, State Farm Insurance; Manny Barbara & Joel Herrera, Oak Grove School District, the committee hosted a "JA in a Day" with General Electric's Hispanic Forum, consisting of volunteers from NBC11, Telemundo, and GE Money.
Over 20 GE volunteers taught Hispanic Students the various aspects of workforce readiness, and financial literacy programs. "The students absolutely loved all the volunteers, especially the volunteers from Telemundo because they watch Spanish language programming from that channel in their home," said a teacher at Arbuckle Elementary.
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Students Today, Leaders of the Future
Participants at the Mercury News
On Friday, February 1, countless professionals were "shadowed" by over 2,000 students as part of Junior Achievement's nationwide Groundhog Job Shadow Day.
Job Shadow Day is an academically motivating event designed to give students the unique opportunity to get an up-close look at what really goes on in the work place. Students follow people from a variety of professions for a day, learning and helping their 'shadowees' in every aspect of the profession. Having this experience helps students understand how what they are learning in school impacts and prepares them as well as makes students aware of the range of careers that the future holds for them.
The NOVA Workforce Board generously provided staff support and business connections for Junior Achievement, reaching out to nearly 100 participating companies. The companies listed below, represent the broad slice of businesses that range from biotechnology, hospitality, construction, healthcare, and government.
Abbott Vascular * Aerofund Financial
Agilent Technologies * Applied Materials
AT & T * Best Buy at Santana Row
The Biltmore Hotel & Suites
Chordiant * City of Mountain View
City of Palo Alto * City of San Jose
City of Sunnyvale/NOVA * Couch Properties
California Department of Rehabilitation
Fairmont Hotel (San Jose) * Genentech Inc.
IBM * JDS Uniphase Corporation
Kaiser Permanente * Lockheed Martin
Mentor Graphics * Milpitas Police Department
NBC11 * NXP Semiconductors
Plantronics, Inc. * PricewaterhouseCoopers
Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare Systems
San Jose Mercury News
Santa Clara County Office of Education
Santa Clara Superior Court of California
Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment
State Farm Insurance * Valley Credit Union
William Matson Architect & Associates
JA would like to extend a warm "Thank You" to all the participating companies in helping prepare our youth for the world of business and workforce readiness! 
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Three Leaders Inducted into Junior Achievement's Monterey Bay Business Hall of Fame
Honoring Monterey's Best
 Pebble Beach, CA-- Despite the cold and rainy weather, on Thursday, January 24, 2008, 230 people attended the 2008 Monterey Bay Business Hall of Fame at The Inn at Spanish Bay to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of three business icons: Burt Cutino, co-founder and chief operating officer of the Sardine Factory, Sam Downing, president and chief executive officer of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare, and Andy Matsui, president of Matsui Nursery.
"The honorees truly exemplify" outstanding leadership in their community said past Laureate Margaret D'Arrigo-Martin, Executive Vice President of D'Arrigo Brothers Company of California. These three leaders are role models for young people with their passionate and dedication to making their community a better place to live and their advocacy in education is inspiration to youth to become lifelong learners.
Andy Matsui formed the Matsui Foundation to provide college scholarships for qualifying students, many of them coming from a farm laborer background. These impressive scholarships provide $10,000 per student each year they spend in college, up to fours years. Within the next few years, more than 100 Monterey County students will utilize the Matsui Scholarship program to follow their own dreams in the path of the foundation's namesake, Andy Matsui.
Bert Cutino has graciously shared his success with his community, believing that "supporting youth is key to our future." Bert has spent many years working with the educational outreach foundation of the American Culinary Federation. Additionally, he initiated a bill in the legislature that provided $11 million in financial aid to students pursuing culinary education in California's community colleges.
Sam Downing, as part of his desire to give back, has led humanitarian missions to China, Mongolia, Ethiopia, Argentina, Cuba, Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Mexico via Rotary International and Assist International. Through these efforts, millions of dollars worth of equipment and medical supplies were delivered to under served regions.
Sponsored by
HSBC
Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System
Matsui Nursery
D'Arrigo Bros. Co., of California
Granite Construction
Pebble Beach Co.
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What if kids ran the world?
JA implements a New High School Curriculum
What should I do when I graduate from high school? What choices are out there? How do my skills, interests, and values match with available careers? These are the typical questions that every high school student asks themselves as they prepare for graduation and plan for college and careers.
Junior Achievement's newest high school program Careers with a Purpose introduces students to the importance of seeking careers that help them realize their life potential and noble purpose. The program demonstrates the importance of positive values, life maxims, and ethical decision-making within the context of career and life decisions.
"The experience itself is eye-opening," said Independence High School Student Bianca Bryant. "It really helped me understand how the business world functions, writing an effective resume, and preparing for a job interview."
Other participating high schools included Oak Grove and Homestead High Schools.
"It would be good to have more students in other schools participate because the information at the sessions was really good," said Independence High School Teacher, Jack Aiello. "Everyone needs an opportunity to succeed." | |
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Elaine M. Curran
President
Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay, Inc. |
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