Homestead High School
Parents' newsletter
(Cupertino, CA)

Since both her son and daughter, Adrian and Diana, attended Homestead, it was an appropriate place for Wendy Walleigh to teach her first Junior Achievement class, Success Skills. Mrs. Walleigh has spent most of her career in local High Tech and wanted to bridge her industry insight and practical business knowledge to high school students. Junior Achievement partners with Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay businesses, communities and educational institutions to help young people familiarize themselves with business concepts.

The Success Skills curriculum helps students learn interpersonal skills and problem-solving strategies necessary for the workplace. English teacher and Activities Director, Paula Bassett, had requested a Junior Achievement volunteer to teach Success Skills to Homestead’s Leadership students. Working closely with Ms. Bassett from late January until mid-April, 2002, Mrs. Walleigh presented the materials tailored to student leadership more than purely business. “There are many similarities preparing for both class leadership and the business world. Most student leaders run projects, such as fundraisers, which need participation of their peers who are not as enthusiastic as they are. Project management in business requires the same influencing and team-building skills. It was fun teaching these students how to be more effective leaders. And it was fun being back at Homestead,” said Wendy Walleigh.

This year, Wendy Walleigh has worked with high school students in multiple ways. Along with teaching Junior Achievement’s Success Skills, she also worked with Byron Lee, Head of Homestead’s Business Department, to coach students in several Future Business Leader of America (FBLA) projects. For example, Rossini Yen and Katherine Lao’s team met weekly with Mrs.Walleigh to develop and complete a project for competition at the State FBLA Conference, April 26 – 28 in Irvine, CA. Finally, she has been mentoring 3 Los Altos High School students through the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program.

Mrs. Walleigh had a great experience with Homestead students, who can continue to benefit in preparing for the workforce through Junior Achievement of Santa Clara County. Parent and other community volunteers can bring their practical business experience to students through various classes developed by Junior Achievement. To learn more about the similar Junior Achievement volunteer opportunities to help Homestead, including Job Shadowing days, contact them at www.jascc.org or 408-988-8915. Homestead students and the local economy will be positively impacted.

Junior Achievement of Santa Clara County is the premier K – 12 local economic education organization, serving Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara Counties. Globally, Junior Achievement is the largest and fastest-growing nonprofit economic education organization, annually teaching over 4 million elementary, middle school and high school students in 106 countries. Since 1953, Junior Achievement has partnered with Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay businesses, communities and educational institutions to help young people familiarize themselves with business concepts. Junior Achievement’s mission is for students to be inspired and educated by volunteer role models, who help these youth succeed by linking education to the world of work. Junior Achievement’s unique approach to accomplish its mission is that local business organizations’ volunteers combine their work experience with up-to-date Junior Achievement-developed courses to teach students how to apply basic skills and critical thinking to solve complex problems in the “real world.” Armed with this fundamental business and community understanding, 25,000 students annually, in every school grade, learn to become active contributors to the Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay economy. Junior Achievement of Santa Clara County: Making local economic education impact one classroom at a time. For more information and to volunteer, visit http://www.jascc.org/ or call 408-988-8915.