[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12631]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 12631]]

                           JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOEL HEFLEY

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2001

  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak today about an organization, 
which is headquartered in my district and has had an immeasurable 
impact on America. The history of Junior Achievement is a true 
testament to the indelible human spirit and American ingenuity. Junior 
Achievement was founded in 1919 as a collection of small, after-school 
business clubs for students in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  As the rural-to-city exodus of the populace accelerated in the early 
1900s, so too did the demand for workforce preparation and 
entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement students were taught how to think 
and plan for a business, acquire supplies and talent, build their own 
products, advertise, and sell. With the financial support of companies 
and individuals, Junior Achievement recruited numerous sponsoring 
agencies such as the New England Rotarians, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 
Boys & Girls Clubs the YMCA, local churches, playground associations 
and schools to provide meeting places for its growing ranks of 
interested students.
  In a few short years JA students were competing in regional 
expositions and trade fairs and rubbing elbows with top business 
leaders. In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge hosted a reception on the 
White House lawn to kick off a national fundraising drive for Junior 
Achievement's expansion. By the late 1920s, there were nearly 800 JA 
Clubs with some 9,000 Achievers in 13 cities in Massachusetts, New 
York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
  During World War II, enterprising students in JA business clubs used 
their ingenuity to find new and different products for the war effort. 
In Chicago, JA students won a contract to manufacture 10,000 pants 
hangers for the U.S. Army. In Pittsburgh, JA students developed made a 
specially lined box to carry off incendiary devices, which was approved 
by the Civil Defense and sold locally. Elsewhere, JA students made baby 
incubators and used acetylene torches in abandoned locomotive yards to 
obtain badly needed scrap iron.
  In the 1940s, leading executives of the day such as S. Bayard 
Colgate, James Cash Penney, Joseph Sprang of Gillette and others helped 
the organization grow rapidly. Stories of Junior Achievement's 
accomplishments and of its students soon appeared in national magazines 
of the day such as TIME, Young America, Colliers, LIFE, the Ladies Home 
Journal and Liberty.
  In the 1950s, Junior Achievement began working more closely with 
schools and saw its growth increase five-fold. In 1955, President 
Eisenhower declared the week of January 30 to February 5 as ``National 
Junior Achievement Week.'' At this point, Junior Achievement was 
operating in 139 cities and in most of the 50 states. During its first 
45 years of existence, Junior Achievement enjoyed an average annual 
growth rate of 45 percent.
  To further connect students to influential figures in business, 
economics, and history, Junior Achievement started the Junior 
Achievement National Business Hall of Fame in 1975 to recognize 
outstanding leaders. Each year, a number of business leaders are 
recognized for their contribution to the business industry and for 
their dedication to the Junior Achievement experience. Today, there are 
200 laureates from a variety of businesses and industries that grace 
the Hall of Fame.
  By 1982, Junior Achievement's formal curricula offering had expanded 
to Applied Economics (now called JA Economics), Project Business, and 
Business Basics. In 1988, more than one million students per year were 
estimated to take part in Junior Achievement programs. In the early 
1990s, a sequential curriculum for grades K-6 was launched, catapulting 
the organization into the classrooms of another one million elementary 
school students.
  Today, through the efforts of more than 100,000 volunteers in the 
classrooms of America, Junior Achievement reaches more than four 
million students in grades K-12 per year. JA International takes the 
free enterprise message of hope and opportunity even further . . . to 
more than 1.5 million students in 111 countries. Junior Achievement has 
been an influential part of many of today's successful entrepreneurs 
and business leaders. Junior Achievement's success is truly the story 
of America--the fact that one idea can influence and benefit many 
lives.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have Junior Achievement in my district and 
proud of its many successes over the years. It is my hope this great 
organization continues to prosper and benefit many in the years to 
come.

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