For more information:
Wendy Walleigh
408-988-8915 x208
wwalleigh@jascc.org

October 6, 2003 -- The Big Four Accountants' Challenge Bowlathon to benefit Junior Achievement is being held for the first time in Silicon Valley on Thursday, October 16, 2003 from 2:00 to 6:45 p.m. at the 4th Street Bowl in San Jose. Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers are pulling together teams of Partners, Managers and Staff to compete on the lanes and raise pledges to support Junior Achievement Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay programs and students. "I first challenged my JA board colleague from Ernst & Young, and then the other local Big 4 offices. At the end this of this friendly but spirited competition, we believe that PwC will be both the superior bowling force and largest contributors to Junior Achievement," said John Buchanan, PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Partner and Board Member of Junior Achievement Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay.

Leading the Ernst & Young charge, Wendy Perez, Tax Partner and Junior Achievement Board Member, said, "A few friendly frames of bowling will get all of our competitive juices flowing, sharpen our minds for the upcoming tax season, and support a cause near and dear to our hearts - Junior Achievement." These Big Four Accountants will set out to prove they are not bean counters, but bowling warriors. Based on a complex accounting formula of dollars raised, number of participants, and 3rd games' scores - the winning firm will be able to proudly display a huge trophy for a full year. Proceeds will help fund the 35,000 students anticipated to participate in Junior Achievement programs this school year.

Other accounting firms are welcome to field teams for the Big Four Accountants' Challenge by contacting JA. Junior Achievement Bowlathons are a long-standing tradition of both competition and relaxation with each event offering prizes, games, and recognition that uniquely reflect the organizations participating. The Big Four Accountants' Challenge is one of three Bowlathons scheduled for Fall 2003. This includes a Symantec employee event on November 1 and an early November JA Silicon Valley Fall Bowlathon with Lockheed Martin and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young opening the challenge to all other local businesses. Junior Achievement's goal is to raise at least $70,000 from Bowlathons that will occur in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties between October, 2003 and June 2004. This fun-to-earn money will support the future workforce success of local students through Junior Achievement classroom programs, volunteer role models, and job shadowing.

Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley & Monterey Bay is the premier K - 12 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 over 350,000 young people the principles of free enterprise so that they understand business and economics and are workforce-ready. Only Junior Achievement teaches K - 12^th 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, over 31,000 children from this past year will impact Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay communities as successful individuals, workers and consumers. Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley & 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.