WEYBURN — Junior Achievement companies and students won a total of eight awards from the 2024 Junior Achievement Provincial Awards, including an honour for Company of the Year to first semester company Sweets and Treats.
The Company of the Year award is presented to “the company that achieved the minimum standards of 80 per cent attendance, strong sales, a high degree of production and commercial development of the product, prompt payment of wages and invoices, meeting of shareholders report requirements, general spirit and participation by all.”
Student Jenna Knupp was a double winner, taking home the Achiever of the Year and Salesperson of the Year awards.
Achiever of the Year is presented to an outstanding achiever who has displayed dedication and overwhelming commitment to the company program.
As Salesperson of the Year, she brought in sales of over $2,800 for her company, Sweets & Treats Co.
Luminate, the second semester company, won the award for product design, and co-president Kaitlin Demchynski won the Leadership Excellence award.
Kaitlin presented a positive business approach with exceptional public relations and dedication to ensuring the success of her JA company. She had shown outstanding leadership not only in the company but in the program as a whole.
The product design award recognized the company whose product best incorporates a combination of imagination, creativity, marketability, constructability and materials cost.
Max Crane (of Luminate) won an award for Human Resource Management; Emmanuel Pallarca (of Luminate) won for Marketing Excellence; and Emily Edwards (of Luminate) won the award for Environment-Health and Safety.
Max’s award was to recognize that he “maintained accurate, orderly records and took pride in his position in a professional manner. This achiever has displayed exceptional ability to motivate and train staff, to facilitate teamwork, and to ensure that each team member played a meaningful role and was valued for his or her contribution to the company.”
Emmanuel was recognized as an achiever “who displayed outstanding efforts in the fields of promotion and marketing, and had shown a creative ability in sales, promotion and marketing.”
Emily “played a significant role in the development, implementation, monitoring and ongoing improvement of the company’s plan for a healthy and safe working environment.”
Entrepreneurship teacher Margot Arnold, who is retiring at the end of this school year, also noted that from 2014 to this year, 25 JA companies have donated back a total of $17,625.47 to charities and non-profit organizations, including $700 from Luminate, the last company, to Envision Counselling.
“I believe the Junior Achievement program is invaluable. It is a ‘real life’ hands-on class where students repeatedly say it was their best class in high school. I encourage my students to not only make a profit, but to make a difference. Ten per cent of their company profits must be donated to a charity/non-profit of the company’s choice,” she said.
“The growth I have seen in many students is exponential. I always tell them to apply YOGO WYPI to their company program experience: ‘You only get out what you put in’. Therefore, go outside your comfort zone, so that you will grow, enhance existing skillsets, and acquire and develop new skillsets to benefit your future,” said Arnold.
“I have enjoyed my 25 companies, and it is so gratifying when I hear a student say, ‘I didn’t know what I wanted to do after Grade 12, and thanks to my JA experience, I am now headed for post-secondary to obtain my Commerce degree’,” she added. “Many students stay connected and that is also further heart-warming, as I learn about where their future has taken them applying what they learned from their JA experience. I believe this is the best real-life, relevant class for students in high school.”
