Houston Students to Compete at Junior Achievement's National Student Leadership Summit
A local group of teen entrepreneurs will go head-to-head against 14 other teams in Washington, D.C., next month
[Houston, Texas] – 9 Junior Achievement (JA) of Southeast Texas students have been selected as one of 15 finalist teams to compete at the Junior Achievement National Student Leadership Summit (NSLS) in Washington, D.C. The students will travel to the nation's capital for the three-day event, June 19-23, to compete with teen entrepreneurs across the United States.
The Houston students represent Elkins High School and Dulles High school and founded their teams EVO (Elkins HS) and Dulicious Co. (Dulles HS) —part of their participation in the JA Company Program®, in which high school students start and run a real business enterprise under the guidance of a volunteer from their local business community. The teens devise a product designed to fill an unmet consumer need, produce, and market their product or service, and recruit investors for their company.
Evo created Let's Keep Talking, a card game and bracelet set to facilitate simple, easy, and comfortable conversations in daily life and deepen human bonding and connectivity.
Dulicious Co.'s casECO is a 100% biodegradable phone case created through organically sourced, natural wheat straw, making it compostable at the end of its lifecycle.
The 15 teen teams of five students will vie for five different awards at the NSLS event. The competition has four various awards:
- JA Company of the Year – First, Second, and Third Place
- Delta Social Impact Award
- FedEx Global Possibilities Award
- ICE NYSE Foundation Best Financial Performance Award
The student companies will be assessed on their financial performance, individual team members' personal and professional development, a self-produced commercial about their product or service, their team's live presentation to a panel of business leaders, and their company's performance at an Entrepreneurship Expo on Capitol Hill.
The Entrepreneurship Expo will take place on Tuesday, June 21, on Capitol Hill. The event is open to the public from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. EDT; complimentary refreshments will be served.
About Junior Achievement USA® (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches more than 2.5 million students per year in 103 markets across the United States as part of 10 million students served by operations in 100 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.
About Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas
Founded in 1945, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas has provided financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurial resources to students in grades K-12. Through a dedicated and diverse group of corporate, parent, and community volunteers, its programs continue to motivate, prepare and provide students with the knowledge and experience needed to kindle understanding and enthusiasm to succeed in a vastly growing global economy. Visit jahouston.org for more information.