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Career-readiness

Fountain Hills: Junior Achievement records most successful year in 67 years

Youth organization serves 190,000 students in 2023-24 school year

Posted 2/1/25

Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA) recorded its most impactful year in its 67-year history in Arizona during the 2023-24 school year.

For years, the JA/Fountain Hills partnership has impacted …

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Career-readiness

Fountain Hills: Junior Achievement records most successful year in 67 years

Youth organization serves 190,000 students in 2023-24 school year

Posted

Junior Achievement of Arizona (JA) recorded its most impactful year in its 67-year history in Arizona during the 2023-24 school year.

For years, the JA/Fountain Hills partnership has impacted thousands of students and provided them with critical tools for success.

Last year, JA made a comeback to the Fountain Hills community, thanks to the efforts of JA board member Theresa Conti and community leader Ashley Sommer.

Conti and Sommer taught three classes to the middle school and recruited 14 parents to help lead the program at McDowell Mountain Elementary School.

Local JA-sponsored event planned

In an effort to promote JA in the Fountain Hills community, Conti is organizing an informational event at the McDowell Mountain Elementary School library Wednesday, Feb. 12, from 5 to 6 p.m.

All are welcome to attend the Fountain Hills meeting to learn more about JA and how to get involved.

For more than 67 years, JA has prepared millions of Arizona students to succeed in work and life.

“We’re empowering their futures by giving them the knowledge and skills they need to manage their money, plan for their future and make smart academic, career and economic choices,” the release said.

Set to serve more than 190,000 students this year and over three million since its founding, JA is shaping the college- and career-readiness conversation and will play an important role in Arizona’s workforce and economic development.

JA programs help students connect what they learn in the classroom to the real world and demonstrate how learning correlates to earning – knowledge critical to empowering today’s students to be successful, contributing members of society in the future.

Through longitudinal studies, JA alumni demonstrate on average 34% higher critical thinking skills, earn 20% more throughout their careers and are 143% more likely to start a business, as compared to non-JA students, according to the release.

JA alumni are also 6% more likely to graduate high school, 30% more likely to graduate college and 67% more likely to earn an advanced degree than the general population.

“We are proud to serve the students of Fountain Hills and will continue to do so,” said JA President Katherine Kemmeries Cecala. “But it takes community support – we need over 8,000 volunteer mentors (program wide) to run our programs each year.”

JA is a participant in the The Arizona Charitable Tax Credit Program, which allows individuals to donate up to $470 and couples up to $938 before April 15. Donors then get it back as a dollar-for-dollar credit on their 2024 state taxes.

It’s a win for the donor and a win for JA students,” Cecala added.

To learn more about Junior Achievement of Arizona, visit jaaz.org.

Junior Achievement of Arizona, JA, Junior Achievement, career-readiness, mcdowell mountain elementary school

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