For more information:
Wendy Walleigh
408-988-8915 x208
wwalleigh@jascc.org
On Tuesday, December 17, 2002, volunteers from Nortel Networks' Santa Clara campus drove just a short distance down their road into a very different part of their neighborhood to teach Junior Achievement programs. At George Mayne Elementary School in Alviso, Nortel volunteers met children unfamiliar with high tech companies and telephony networking because they live in a rural, farming pocket of the county, and many are newly speaking English. In teaching JA classroom programs to 1st through 5th graders, these volunteers gained tremendous respect for the work teachers do, were impressed with the eager young minds, and felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment at the end of their day in Alviso's one elementary school.
Since 1953, Junior Achievement has partnered with Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay communities, educational institutions, and businesses like Nortel Networks to teach K-12th grade students the principles of free enterprise so that they understand business and economics, are workforce-ready, and are prepared to be successful, contributing citizens in our community. A key part of what the students learn is from interacting with business role models, who can show kids career "possibilities" and the benefits of becoming well educated. The Nortel role models who taught Junior Achievement at George Mayne Elementary were a true reflection of the diversity of the high tech workplace: both females and males and a wide range of ethnicities, e.g., Indians, Vietnamese, Latinos, Korean, Chinese and Caucasians. This helped the diverse George Mayne students see what they might become.
Nortel's Alyene McLennan said, "It was a nice feeling to think that my time with them could influence decisions that they might make in their future regarding how they will contribute to their communities." She and the other volunteers spent the day teaching the Junior Achievement elementary school programs to children ranging from ages 5 to 12. Each grade learns different concepts about their community and working in business. Alyene was impressed with how smart 2nd graders are nowadays, "As I studied the lesson plans, I was concerned that some of the concepts around government and taxes might be hard for them to grasp, but they did a really nice job of understanding and following along. I really enjoyed working with the students and will definitely volunteer to do it again."
George Mayne School has a proud history in the Alviso community. Some children are 4th generation at the school, and many people move back to this neighborhood to have their children attend here, according to Principal Denise Stevens. While Nortel Networks has just recently been partnering with Junior Achievement, based on the reactions of the volunteers, students and teachers, they will be happy to go "back down the road" again next year. Second-time JA in a Day volunteer Kevin Shea summed it up well, "I get a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when I can introduce children to the process of how to work and live in a market-based economy. I feel good giving the children the building blocks to understand what their parents need to do to provide them and their families what they need, and showing these kids how they can help in that process. In all, the JA in a Day experience has been fulfilling and enlightening. It reminds me of my learning how the world worked, the special people that helped me on my life's journey, and the tools they gave me to be a success. JA in a Day is a great program for the JA volunteer, the teacher, and the students."
About Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay, Inc.
Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay is the premier K - 12 local economic education organization. Globally, Junior Achievement is the largest and fastest-growing nonprofit economic education organization, annually teaching 6 million elementary, middle school and high school students in over 110 countries. Junior Achievement's mission is to ensure that every child in America has a fundamental understanding of the free enterprise system. Since 1953, Junior Achievement has partnered with businesses, communities and schools from Silicon Valley to Monterey Bay to teach young people the principles of free enterprise so that they understand business and economics and are workforce-ready. Only Junior Achievement teaches K - 12th grade students about the relevance of school to their future success by using community and business role models to bring our classroom programs to life. In multiple classroom visits, these volunteers use their experience and knowledge to help students become workforce-ready by applying critical thinking and school skills to solving real-world problems. As a result, approximately 27,500 children from this past year will impact Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay communities as successful individuals, workers and consumers. Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay: Impacting local economic education one classroom at a time. For more information and to get involved, visit http://www.jascc.org or call 408-988-8915.
