Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 by Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph; Horace Moses, president of Strathmore Paper Co.; and Senator Murray Crane of Massachusetts. Its first program, The Company Program, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis. In 1975, the organization entered the classroom with the introduction of Project Business for the middle grades. In the last 25 years, Junior Achievement has gradually expanded its activities and broadened its scope to encompass an ever-widening student population.

Junior Achievement of Greater Hampton Roads, Inc. was established in the Hampton Roads area in 1966. This year locally, over 400 business professionals, parents, retirees and college students will enter our schools to teach Junior Achievement programs. These volunteers use their personal experiences to make the Junior Achievement curricula practical and realistic. Providing children with positive adult role models, who illustrate ways to build self-confidence, develop skills and find avenues of success in our free enterprise system, which is a hallmark of Junior Achievement.

Testimonials

• "JA is a good program because it helps me make the right choices in the future and makes me interested in a job that I will like. It teaches me strategies on how to get a job and proper manners on how I should act in an interview." 5th grade student
• "I put my JA experience on an application for a bank teller position. The bank called me in for an interview but as a loan analyst. It turns out that the bank president was a classroom volunteer and knew first-hand what JA had taught me!" Former JA student
• "JA provides instruction on realistic things that are going on in this world and the kids open up and begin to believe in themselves." 12th grade teacher
• "I absolutely loved [my volunteer]. She was marvelous and the children thought she was the best thing since sliced bread, so I would be thrilled to have her come to my class again next March for five weeks. Thank you again for providing this terrific program for our students." 2nd grade teacher
• "I wanted to take this opportunity to thank [my volunteer] for volunteering to teach 2nd grade. I appreciate the value of her time as this program is strictly on a volunteer basis. Her expertise in the business world offered students a different perspective from which to apply their skills & knowledge learned. She was truly wonderful, enthusiastic, & well-prepared. She engaged the students & addressed off-task behavior during her lessons beautifully. Her knowledge & application of the JA curriculum/lessons was outstanding. I highly recommend her." 2nd grade teacher