Junior Achievement South Western Ontario is celebrating its achievements from the past school year with a focus on financial education.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Junior Achievement reached 21,681 students in 270 schools and 903 classes through a range of learning experiences and interactive events. These experiences focused on work readiness, financial health, and entrepreneurship.
“We start with a ‘More than Money’ program in Grade 4… and then as they get older, they’ll learn a little more detail, and when they start to have their own money they begin to learn more about budgeting and that kind of thing,” said Jenne Wason, director of marketing and communications for JA.
Throughout the year, Junior Achievement South Western Ontario also raised more than $1 million to sustain itself and prepare students to succeed in a global economy.
Wason said the organization applauded the Ontario government’s recent updates to the secondary school curriculum, which include new modules on financial literacy.
“We’re so glad to see the province recognizing the importance of financial education. We feel it’s something we’ve been pushing with our programs for years and it’s such a great partnership,” she said. “Some of the modules from the government are going to be great for the teachers and we can pull in and add in more real-world experiences with our volunteers.”
Junior Achievement was originally formed in 1919 and is now one of the world’s largest youth-serving non-governmental organizations (NGO,) preparing young people for employment and entrepreneurship.