Boston Group CEO Greg Ellison and Deloitte Isle of Man partner-in-charge Sarah Sanders left the Island on Friday May 11^th on their way to Phoenix, Arizona to take part in the trip organised by specialist charity challenge event organisers Global Adventure Challenge.

They are covering all their own costs to ensure all money raised goes to Junior Achievement to support its work to equip the Island's young people with the essential entrepreneurial skills they will need after they leave full-time education.

The challenge will include trekking in the Grand Canyon and descending into the Indian reservation of Havasupai, famed for having the last post office in the US still serviced by mule train. 

To sponsor Sarah Sanders visit http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/sarahsanders .

To sponsor Greg Ellison visit http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/gregellison .

Junior Achievement Isle of Man is a Manx-registered charity that needs to raise more than £300,000 annually. For more details contact chief executive Sue Cook, suecook@jaiom.im, telephone 666266 or call in to Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Suite 2, Peterson House, Middle River, Douglas.

www.jaiom.im

Blog from Greg Ellison Days 1 & 2

Friday 11th May. My kids Lily aged 7 and Ben aged 6 turned up at Ronaldsway straight from school to wave me and Sarah off. Lily was very proud as she had just won Star of the Month at school so was carrying her certificate. I posed with Sarah, Julie my wife, Lily & Ben and a few of the Junior Achievement team for a few photographs for the paper then left for London.

Arriving in Gatwick we then transferred to a Heathrow hotel in readiness for an early flight on Saturday morning. I was pleased to keep my Friday night curry routine going for dinner in the hotel with a couple of drinks to wash it down.

Early start Saturday with car at 6.40am to take us to Terminal 4. We were the last of our group to arrive at the airport but we left just enough time for breakfast before boarding the plane.

The plane was absolutely full and apparently oversold. Sarah was sitting in front of me so I was pondering how I could prevent her from spending the next 8 hours reclining her seat into my face. Then as the doors closed, remarkably, someone didn't reach the flight in time meaning there was a spare place next to Sarah so I jumped in next to her and Sarah was free to recline to her heart's content!!

The flight went well. I watched three great movies - Moneyball, The Iron Lady, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, all of which were awesome. Then to focus my mind for the end of the trip when we reach Las Vegas I watched Hangover.

We landed in Phoenix in 97 degrees heat at the UK time of 2am Sunday morning so had been on the go for 20 hours but time locally was 6pm Saturday so we had the whole evening ahead of us.

We were taken on a 30 minute drive through Phoenix to Scottsdale where we are staying at the Marriott Courtyard for the first night before heading off into the Canyon on Sunday.

We had an introduction from our guide Zac which was a good chance to meet the rest of the trekkers. There are 11 others in total all from the UK. 6 are a group from Bournemouth led by Gail who tragically lost her baby boy to Epilepsy a few months ago. Her son, Max, hadn't reached 2 years old so Gail and her friends are here raising money as Team Max for research into Epilepsy.

Despite everyone being very tired, me, Sarah and most of the team went out for a quick dinner to a nearby Italian restaurant. It lived up to expectations of great, friendly American service, good value and enormous portions. Certainly not a bad thing before we begin the trek tomorrow.

So, with dinner behind us it was back to the hotel for a relatively early night and a long overdue sleep before departing at 7.30am on Sunday. We're paired up sharing rooms and the same pairs will be sharing throughout the trip. I was pleased to meet a doctor, part of Team Max and originally from New Zealand. Having living in NZ myself as a young man to play rugby for a year before going to university we had a lot to talk about. However, by about 9.30pm I was in bed and quickly asleep. Only a short time later at about 11pm I was awoken by what at first I thought must have been an earthquake....but no, I've just discovered that my sleeping companion for the best part of the next week is the worst snorer I've ever heard in my life.

So here I am, 11.45pm local time on the longest Saturday of my life writing my blog having been awake for about 30 hours with my iPod playing Adele to try and soothe me to sleep whilst be loud enough to suppress the tectronic vibrations from the next bed. The thought of sharing a tent with him for the next few nights is not a great prospect at the moment!!

Anyway, enough for now. Adele has just finished 21 and I need to load up some more tunes to get me through the night!

Blog on Day 3

After months of planning, training and anticipation finally today we get to trek! With a total of 14 of us in the group of mixed ages and fitness levels we drive for 3 hours to Red Rock State Park and do a couple of hours trekking to break everyone in gently.

After a safety briefing about various dangerous critters, snakes and spiders we set off. The heat was intense at 102 degrees but the views were magnificent. It was also a great chance to talk to other members of the group and to hear about their motivation for taking part.

The trek concluded with a fantastic packed lunch before another 3 hour journey through Sedona to our destination for the evening. Sedona is a beautiful town where people come from miles away to enjoy its epic scenery.

All the buildings are colour coordinated to reflect the natural habitat's colours of greens and red. So strict are they that Sedona boasts the only McDonalds in the world where the golden arches are indeed the green arches.

Along the way we drove along the historic Route 66 passing iconic venues like the Roadkill Cafe 'you kill it, we grill it'!

Once settled in at a very traditional roadside motel, we enjoyed a hearty beef dinner to the tunes of Country giants like Garth Brooks. Zach, our tour guide, then delivered a detailed briefing about our challenging 10 mile course into the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Now we're at the business end of the trip, so it's an early night to rest before our 5am wake up call.

Zach is a great guy. An all American boy, he's grown up in the outdoors, has spent time as a cowboy on the ranch, has cycled the length and breadth of the USA as well as getting a college degree. His knowledge of the region is outstanding and he spends every spare moment of his time trekking, cycling, canoeing or camping. He also owns and runs a construction company. He reminds me of Bear Grylls. He's supported by Jimmy and Jenny, two fantastic people with equally impressive understandings of the natural environment around the Canyon. Over time Zach wants to use his outdoor expeditions to help young people who have challenges in their life to build their self-esteem, their communication and team working skills and to motivate them as a role model to set themselves some positive goals for the future.

As such, Zach gets what Junior Achievement is all about and the similarity of our aims for young people.

Hoping for a better night's sleep tonight with the benefit of ear plugs to dampen the earth-moving power of my room mate's snoring!

After the magic of the Hogwarts weekend Junior Achievement is now brewing up some more events for 2012. They're hanging up their witches' hats and slipping into their Lycra leotards as they plan a sponsored walk along Douglas promenade on May 20 and the Alternative Olympics at Onchan Stadium on July 13.

For more information find them on Facebook or check out their website, www.jaiom.im. 

*Warner Bros. Entertainment and J.K. Rowling were not responsible for the event but kindly granted Junior Achievement Isle of Man permission to use the HARRY POTTER^® trade mark and other materials.

We will be contacting you shortly to arrange for you to collect your Easter Egg from the Junior Achievement office.

T-Jay Campbell
Lauren Raatgever
Tim Cowin
Charlie Gregory-Muggle
Alice Gibbon
Aidan Sansbury
Robert Callow
Edward Callow
Daniel Averre
Belinda Dempsey
Si Chadwick
Tiana Van Zyl
Erin Christian
Emma
George
Niamh Reaney
Aaliyah Madey
Freya
Lydia May Sloane
Aailish Kelly

Anthony Long, the group's chief executive officer and a Junior Achievement director, said: 'At Capital International we recognise the importance of helping young people prepare for their future careers and gain a realistic insight into the "real world" of work. In this Junior Achievement is truly innovative and we are pleased to support its work in reaching more 5000 students in full-time education in the Island.

'As a business Capital International also derives great benefits from its long-term involvement. We actively encourage our people to volunteer and find working in classrooms provides valuable opportunities for helping develop senior management leadership skills.'

Junior Achievement's chief executive Sue Cook said: 'We're very grateful to Capital International for their financial and volunteering support. This funding will go towards our work in schools and it is thanks to Capital International and other like-minded organisations that we're able to help young people realise their full potential and give them the best start in their careers, all the more crucial in today's increasingly competitive jobs market.'

Junior Achievement Isle of Man is a Manx-registered charity that needs to raise more than £300,000 annually. For more details contact Sue Cook, suecook@jaiom.im, telephone 666266 or call in to Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Suite 2, Peterson House, Middle River, Douglas.

www.jaiom.im

The students, Katie Banks, Tegan Dixon, Noura Gomaa, Joe Hillard, Sophie Kermode and Chloë Shimmin, will now go on to represent the Island in the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year competition in Bucharest in July.

The event, held at the Palace Hotel, was sponsored by PDMS whose managing director Chris Gledhill presented the Company of the Year trophy, saying 2012 had been 'a vintage year' for the competition with students showing outstanding levels of ambition, innovation and creativity that formed part of 'taking on the adult world'.

Rejuven8 had especially impressed the judges with their clearly set out business accounts and professional presentation delivered without notes. The team's Chloë Shimmin said the Company of the Year challenge had 'helped prepare us for the business world', encouraged them to be self-motivated and offered a learning experience outside of the conventional school curriculum.  She thanked the team's volunteer business mentors Jenny Qualtrough of Deloitte and Beth Thomas of KPMG and teachers Ian Kay and Ollie Mitchell and explained: 'The more involved we became the more we realised just how much work goes into forming and running your own company and although we all had assigned roles, what really helped us was the way we ended up sharing our different strengths.'

In preparation for the competition Junior Achievement staff and volunteer mentors had worked with students from King William's College and Castle Rushen, Queen Elizabeth II and Ballakermeen high schools since September last year to help them formulate and develop their business ideas.

Junior Achievement's chief executive Sue Cook hosted the evening and explained that 29 teams had taken up the challenge and 15 had become finalists. Before the winners were announced she told the students: 'Regardless of whether you win an award tonight you have gained something even more valuable; practical experience that you can draw upon during a job or university interview. And how many young people can say they've run their own business?'

Sue went on to point out that universities and employers recognise the Junior Achievement/Young Enterprise company programme as the top entrepreneurial programme for young people in the UK, with research showing that on average 15 per cent of students completing it go on to become self employed compared with the national average of six per cent.

In closing she thanked the volunteer business mentors and teachers for their support and said that a DVD of the competition and awards ceremony, created by yourmoviecrew.com, was available for purchase, for a limited period only, from www.jaiom.im .

The evening also featured a performance by the band Panicland - Chris Blackburn from St Ninian's High School Ffinlo Colley from Ballakermeen High School and Lily Wolter from King William's High School - runners-up in Junior Achievement's Next Big Thing talent contest held in January and set to become an annual event.

Junior Achievement Company of the Year 2012 awards:

Company of the Year
Rejuven8 - Ballakermeen High School

HSBC award for corporate social responsibility
Oink - King William's College

Deloitte award for best company accounts
Rejuven8 - Ballakermeen High School

AXA Isle of Man special recognition award
Genio - Queen Elizabeth II High School

Friends Provident International award for outstanding team member
Klaudia Sciana from inSpirit - Ballakermeen High School

Capital International award for volunteer business mentors of the year
Pam Wells, Age Concern Isle of Man mentor for Genio - Queen Elizabeth II High School and Keith Green, Isle of Man Post Office mentor for Syra - Ballakermeen High School

Boston Group award for best presentation
Rejuven8 - Ballakermeen High School

The Hamblin award for best business idea
Energy Step - Ballakermeen High School

The Maggie Galloway memorial award for inspirational leadership
Matthew Gardener from Elite - Castle Rushen High School

The Richard Holt award for students' choice
Prototype - Castle Rushen High School

Junior Achievement Isle of Man is a Manx-registered charity. This year it will work with more than 5000 young people in full-time education and needs to raise more than £300,000 annually. For more details contact Sue Cook, suecook@jaiom.im , telephone 666266 or call in to Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Suite 2, Peterson House, Middle River, Douglas.

The JA-YE Europe Company of the Year 2012 competition will take place July 19 - 22 in Bucharest, Romania.

Boston Group CEO Greg Ellison and Deloitte Isle of Man partner-in-charge Sarah Sanders, both Junior Achievement directors, have volunteered to take part in the trip organised by specialist charity challenge event organisers Global Adventure Challenge. Mr Ellison and Ms Sanders, the charity's treasurer, are both meeting all their costs personally to ensure all money raised goes to Junior Achievement to support its work to equip the Island's young people with the essential skills they need when they leave full-time education.

They will be part of a group travelling from the UK to Phoenix where the eight-day challenge includes trekking in the Grand Canyon and descending into the Indian reservation of Havasupai, famed for having the last post office in the US still serviced by mule train.

No stranger to more extreme forms of exercise, having taken part in number of full and half marathons, ex-professional rugby player Mr Ellison is also noted for his fleetness of foot having won the Island's Essentially Dancing competition in 2009 with his memorable samba routine. Ms Sanders, however, although no stranger to the workings of Junior Achievement having taken part in the charity's company programme while a student at Ballakermeen High School, admits to being rather less familiar with the demands of physical exercise, explaining that 'hitting 40' in 2012 inspired her to rise to the challenge.

Mr Ellison said: 'It takes a tremendous fundraising effort for Junior Achievement Isle of Man to raise the more than £300,000 that's needed every year to reach in the region of 5000 students. In this the charity shows real innovation, raising money from the Blake concert, The Next Big Thing and the forthcoming Harry Potter-themed two-day event. Against this background Sarah and I decided to roll our sleeves up, get involved and help raise funds for and the profile of Junior Achievement.'

Ms Sanders said: 'Junior Achievement plays a vital role in developing young people's entrepreneurial skills - more important than ever before, given the current difficult economic climate and contracting jobs market. Its innovative approach also helps raise students' levels of ambition and open their eyes to opportunities.'

Mr Ellison added: 'Isle of Man plc needs young people entering the workforce prepared and motivated. Junior Achievement's support for students from primary school age through to 18 is an essential supplement to the good work of the schools through the curriculum.'

To sponsor Sarah Sanders visit http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/sarahsanders.

To sponsor Greg Ellison visit http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/gregellison.

Full details of the challenge can be found at www.globaladventurechallenges.com.  Registration forms are available from Junior Achievement's Tina Edge.  Call 666266 or email tina@jaiom.im.

Students  have to prepare a CV and choose to which of the employers - Barclays Wealth, Isle of Man Government, Manx Telecom, Marks & Spencer, Swagelok and Tracey Bell - they wish to apply.  They are then given a job description in advance of the 35-minute interview which concludes with a feedback session.

The  interview programme has been devised by Ballakermeen High School's key stage 4 Manager Eoin Moriarty in collaboration with Junior Achievement's Joy Spence, a former recruitment specialist with more than 15 years' local industry experience.

She  said: 'Junior Achievement is all about preparing students for the world of work and, in an economic climate where the job market is contracting, young people need all the help and support we, together with schools and our volunteer business partners, can offer.

"These workshops are designed to give students a taste of the "real" world; an opportunity for them to develop a whole range of interview techniques, from personal presentation to communications skills.'

Mr  Moriarty said: 'Any opportunities we can provide for students to hone their CV writing and interview skills prior to applying for actual jobs has to be a good thing and we are very grateful that employers have embraced this new initiative.

"Students are definitely nervous going in but, from the positive feedback they get, they emerge more confident and clearly buzzing from the experience they've had. 72 students volunteered to take part in this project and the feedback from them, the employers and parents has been fantastic.'

Conducting interviews on behalf of Marks & Spencer were Maria Caldwell and her colleague Marie Clare who said: 'Both Maria and I think the mock interviews are a great idea, as we see so many young adults fail our interviews due to lack of knowledge and understanding of what companies are looking for.

"The  benefit for the students is huge as they get the chance to gain that knowledge before they leave school and have now some idea about what potential employers are looking for, regarding their appearance, CV presentation, knowledge of the company and the area in which they wish to work.

"The benefit to Marks & Spencer is that hopefully some of these students would now pass the interview process and become a benefit to our store.'

The pair's first interviewee was 16-year-old Gina Clarke who said: 'I signed up for the workshop because I saw it as an opportunity while still at school to experience what job interviews are like. Having done the interview, it's certainly given me more confidence for when I go for a job for real.'

Swagelok's Neville Jewell said: 'Mock interviews are important because they really do help these young men and women. When I was their age there was nothing going on at that time that prepared you for the outside world. The job market is more competitive than ever and being able to give these guys the tools to gain that advantage in getting that job is important. I find it personally rewarding to be a part of this scheme as it gives me an opportunity to apply my experience and hopefully guide young people so they can avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered when job hunting.'

Joy Spence concluded: 'We're enormously grateful to Ballakermeen High School for their support and to the interviewers for giving so generously of their time and bringing such authenticity to the programme. Given that so many students signed up for the workshops, it's clear that young people have very genuine concerns about their future careers.'

Full steam ahead on the Wizard's Express to Ballasalla train station where you will be whisked away to King William's College for magical day of activities inspired by the Harry Potter films. Join in the fun and come dressed as your favourite Harry Potter character.

Activities will include face painting, sorting hat, care of magical creatures, potions class, decorate your own Wizard's hat, magician plus many more.

31^st March and 1^st April 2012

Trains to depart Douglas:  09:50, 10:55, 11:50, 12:55 and 13:50
Choice of return trains at: 11:43, 12:20, 13:43, 14:20, 15:43 and 16:20

Trains to depart Port Erin: 09:50, 10:50 and 13:50 
Choice of return trains at: 12:20, 14:20 and 16:20

To book, please phone the Welcome Centre on 01624 662525
Tickets £16 for adults and £8 for children.

Ticket price includes the train, connecting shuttle bus from the station and entry into King William's College.

"Warner Bros. Entertainment and J.K. Rowling are not responsible for this event but, subject to conditions, they have kindly granted us permission to use the HARRY POTTER^® trade mark and other materials." 

The Garrett family, Blair, five, Eilidh, eight, Magnus, 10 and mother Wendy joined forces with the Potts family, Ben, seven, Ellena, nine and mother Becky to support the charity, after the two mothers, both former teachers, saw how the 'real world' life skills Junior Achievement develops are of value to children of all ages.

Mrs Garrett explained: 'Every year we collect for a different charity. On this occasion we raised money for Junior Achievement to give something back to them, as they come into the school annually for the benefit of our children.'
Junior Achievement Isle of Man is a Manx-registered charity. In the 2010-2011 academic year it ran 150 classes in 18 schools, reaching more than 4000 young people. Each year the charity needs to raise more than £300,000. For more details contact Sue Cook, suecook@jaiom.im, telephone 666266 or call in to Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Suite 2, Peterson House, Middle River, Douglas.

www.jaiom.im

Natasha Kelly, 17, together with Kirsty Brooks, Kinry Glassey and Matthew Gardner, all aged 16, organised a Christmas fair at their school last December, with Kirsty acting as nail technician for the evening and all four releasing their inner 'Nigella' or 'Jamie' and baking cupcakes offered for sale alongside stands selling Christmas gifts from local companies and charities.

The group chose to organise the event as part of the preparation for their entry in this year's Junior Achievement company of the year challenge, where students are tasked to form into teams, set up a company and bring a product or service to market, then make a presentation to a panel of business experts.

Natasha explained: 'Organising the fair was a first for all us. Having to arrange advertising and cold calling suppliers was good training for the challenge, as it helped with building up our self confidence and communication techniques. There were around 20 stalls at the fair and a steady flow of customers throughout the evening; two of us manned our stands while the other two did the "meeting and greeting".

Central to the company of the year challenge is teamwork. Kirsty said: 'We're all working together in our team, but each of us has different skills. Natasha's the "ideas" person, I'm more into design, Kinry's the business side of the operation and Matthew's our techie IT person.'

With the success of their first fair behind them, when they raised £222.35p for Junior Achievement, the team is hoping to organise a second event in February, themed around Valentine's Day.

…Heart-shaped cupcakes, anyone?

The company of the year event complements the Junior Achievement company programme, acknowledged worldwide as the leader in entrepreneurial education for young people. Research conducted in Europe has shown that more than 15 per cent of young people in the programme go on to open their own business compared to the national average of six per cent.

To find out more contact Joy Spence, joy@jaiom.im or Kirsty Coffey, kirstycoffey@jaiom.im.

Junior Achievement Isle of Man, Suite 2, Peterson House, Middle River, Douglas. 666266.

www.jaiom.im.