Junior Achievement(JA) was founded in 1919 by four businessmen that felt children needed more information about economics and the free enterpise system.

Junior Achievement is the world's largest and fastest-growing non-profit economic education organization. Our programs are taught by classroom volunteers from the business community across America and in over 100 countries worldwide.

Junior Achievement programs consist of three important features: integrated kindergarten through grade 12 curricula, experience-based learning, and classroom delivery by volunteers from the community. JA programs focus on the relevancy of business, economics and entrepreneurship to life's opportunities.

Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest, Inc. was founded in 1949 and will serve over 4,000 classrooms in 400 area schools across Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin this school year.

Junior Achievement-Rochester Area is a local branch of the Upper Midwest organization and is supported by its own advising Board of Directors. We serve over 200 classes in the public and private schools in Rochester and the surrounding communities.

Business professionals, parents, retirees and college students will enter our schools to teach Junior Achievement programs. These volunteers use their personal experiences to make the Junior Achievement curricula practical and realistic. Providing children with positive adult role models, who illustrate ways to build self-confidence, develop skills and find avenues of success in our free enterprise system, is a hallmark of Junior Achievement.

In the future you will find information about how JA is working in our community and ways you can support economics, free enterise education and business partnerships in our schools.