Junior Achievement (JA) of Western CT hosted its “Valley Spirit of Achievement Recognition Breakfast” on June 18 to award student achievement scholarships and honor extraordinary corporate and volunteer contributions along with school support.
The JA “Business Challenge Scholarship Award” was presented to Seymour High School’s team of four students who won second place competing against 16 local high school teams.
The recipients were Ross Barreiro, Izabella Guzzo, Shannon MacFadden and Brian Tomlinson.
The Business Challenge uses JA’s proprietary software tool, the Titan Computer Simulation Program, to teach students about the nuances of running a global business in a competitive, high-tech marketplace.
The “Raymond Lavietes Scholarship” was awarded to Derby High School senior, Shenell Griffiths.
The scholarship was awarded to Shenell for submitting the winning essay to the question, “How has participation in Jr. Achievement positively impacted your life?”
Shenell is attending the SUNY Binghamton in the fall. The Lavietes Scholarship honors the memory of Ray Lavietes who cared deeply about young people and was a great supporter of Jr. Achievement.
Recognizing extraordinary corporate support of JA, the “Outstanding Corporate Partner Award” was presented to Gexpro, an electrical supplies company located in Shelton and a part of Rexel Holdings USA.
Gexpro has contributed to JA’s success by providing significant financial, volunteer and leadership support.
Accepting the award on behalf of Gexpro was Jim Hibberd, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Gexpro and Bradford Greene, Vice President, Human Resources, Rexel Holdings USA and a member of the Governing Board of Junior Achievement of Western CT.
The “Outstanding Volunteer Award” was presented to Ken Roberts, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, Griffin Hospital.
Ken enthusiastically and tirelessly taught two comprehensive JA programs over a period of six months, once a week at Derby High School.
Sharing his business acumen and motivating the students, he guided the group and helped them achieve success by creating a business and participating in the Business Challenge, where the Derby team placed seventh overall.
The “Whole School Partner Award” was presented to Shelton’s Perry Hill School principal, Lorraine Williams for supporting and implementing “JA in a Day” for the past three years.
This teaching event brings business and community volunteers to the school to teach over 850 5th and 6th grade students JA Programs in one day. This highly successful program occurs due to the support of Ms. Williams, her staff and the PTO.
Commenting on the Awards Breakfast, JA of Western CT President, Bernadine Venditto stated, “The 2012 – 2013 school year has been a great one for Junior. Achievement here in the Valley. We are so proud of all our student accomplishments and grateful to the support of the community and all our volunteers. We could not continue without them.”
The Award Breakfast was held in the R.D. Scinto Auditorium in Shelton due to the generosity of Robert Scinto, member of the Governing Board of JA of Western CT.
The event was sponsored by Shelton-based Real Estate Two and Riverview Funeral Home.
