History of Junior Achievement
Horace Moses, then President of the Strathmore Paper Company, started Junior Achievement (JA) in 1919 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Moses decided it was necessary to introduce teenagers to concepts of business and manufacturing so that, once they were old enough to enter the workforce, they would possess the skills needed to succeed in the industrialised cities.
For its first 20 years, Junior Achievement operated
predominantly as The Company Programme, an after school programme
in which business people helped students set up student managed
enterprises. Beginning in the mid 1970's Junior Achievement
created programmes that could be implemented in school during
school hours. By the 1990s, Junior Achievement had developed a
comprehensive primary through to secondary school curricula that
introduced students to a myriad of concepts, anging from how a
community works to the workings of the global economy.
Currently Junior Achievement is the largest and
fastest growing non-rofit economic education organisation in the
world. Each year, nearly 4 million primary and secondary school
students across the U.S. participate in Junior Achievement
programmes. An additional 5 million young people in 106 countries
also take part in Junior Achievement programmes on an annual
basis.
Junior Achievement was originally set up in the Isle of Man
in 1982 under the umbrella of Young Enterprise UK.
Junior Achievement Isle of Man became a member of JAYE Europe,
independent from the UK in 2004.
During 2009/2010 Junior Achievement Isle of Man delivered
programmes to more than 3,000 students. In 2011 we want to
increase student numbers by more than 50% and are looking to raise
£300,000 every year to fund our programmes.
At a European level 102,000 business volunteers along with 88,000
teachers will be involved in delivering programmes on behalf of
Junior Achievement.
