Rotary Club of Gwinnett County helps prepare students for future success

ATLANTA, GA - The Rotary Club of Gwinnett County’s Charitable Giving Committee and Board of Directors awarded Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia a grant in the amount of $500 to be used to continue JA of Georgia’s efforts to provide a dynamic learning experience designed to enhance students’ financial literacy and build skills for personal and professional success.

The award will be used specifically to continue funding for the JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett – an immersive facility that provides Gwinnett County Public School 6th and 8th graders the opportunity to experience their futures first hand.

The facility houses two separate experiential learning spaces: JA BizTown presented by Cisco and JA Finance Park presented by Assurant. Both experiences begin with in-class curriculum, and culminate with a visit to the JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett.

JA BizTown provides students the opportunity to experience their futures first hand by allowing 6th grade students to interact within a simulated economy and take on the challenge of fueling a business. The students not only discover the intricacies of being a professional and member of the community, but also the abundance of opportunities available within their city.

At JA Finance Park, 8th grade students participate in an immersive simulation that enables them to develop skills to successfully navigate today’s complex economic environment and discover how decisions today can impact tomorrow.

“Thanks to grants like these, and partnerships with Gwinnett County Public Schools and the local business community, we are able to give students an authentic and relevant experience that leaves a lasting and measurable impact,” said Juan McGruder, Senior Vice President & CDO, JA of Georgia. “Together we are shaping the next generation into individuals who are equipped to lead our community and play an integral role in our economy.”

The JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett opened in August 2015 and serves more than 25,000 middle school students a year from Gwinnett County Public Schools. It is the second JA Discovery Center in the state, bringing the immersive facilities’ annual impact to more than 60 percent of metro Atlanta middle school students.

SunTrust awarded The President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) for their volunteer effort to advance financial literacy

ATLANTA, GA-  SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) announced today it has been awarded the top U.S. President's Volunteer Service Award at the Gold level for providing more than 15,000 volunteer hours to Junior Achievement (JA) during the 2015-2016 school year.

This marks the third time SunTrust has been awarded a U.S. President's Volunteer Award with JA.  JA's programs provide kindergarten through high school students innovative, hands-on work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy education. The SunTrust Foundation has previously made a $1 million grant to JA's capital campaign, and SunTrust provided $400,000 in sponsorship of JA Finance Park in Atlanta. In addition, SunTrust has committed $1.7 million to Junior Achievement Tampa Bay to build a similar Finance Park in Florida. Further, SunTrust is leading the onUp Movement to advance financial confidence across America.

"Supporting Junior Achievement is one of many ways SunTrust teammates work with students and put our purpose of Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being into action," said Allison Dukes, president and chief executive officer of the Atlanta Division of SunTrust. "Receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award underscores our commitment to building financial confidence, and we look forward to ongoing volunteer opportunities with Junior Achievement to promote financial literacy."

In 2003, President George W. Bush established the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation (the Council) to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers make in communities and encourage more people to serve. The Council created the President's Volunteer Service Award program as a way to thank and honor individuals who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service. In 2006, Junior Achievement became an official certifying organization for this award, which recognizes corporations with a U.S. presence that provide volunteers to teach JA programs anywhere in the world.

"SunTrust is a transformational partner of JA, and ultimately our entire community," said Jack Harris, president and chief executive officer of Junior Achievement of Georgia. "Fifteen thousand hours of mentoring and empowering children is an astonishing feat, and a testament to their unyielding commitment to advance financial well-being for all. We are proud to be a partner of SunTrust and together will continue to build more pipelines to economic opportunity for all."

About SunTrust Banks, Inc.
SunTrust Banks, Inc. is a purpose-driven company dedicated to Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being for the people, businesses, and communities it serves. Headquartered in Atlanta, the Company has three business segments: Consumer Banking and Private Wealth Management, Wholesale Banking, and Mortgage Banking. Its flagship subsidiary, SunTrust Bank, operates an extensive branch and ATM network throughout the high-growth Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states, along with 24-hour digital access. Certain business lines serve consumer, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients nationally. As of September 30, 2016, SunTrust had total assets of $205 billion and total deposits of $159 billion. The Company provides deposit, credit, trust, investment, mortgage, asset management, securities brokerage, and capital market services. SunTrust leads onUp, a national movement inspiring Americans to build financial confidence. Join the movement at onUp.com.

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 4.8 million students per year in more than 100 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.6 million students served by operations over 100 other countries worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information.

Cisco supports JA of Georgia’s programs to redesign education

Atlanta, Georgia - Cisco is partnering with Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia to prepare metro Atlanta students for their future. Specifically, Cisco is providing a grant of $150,000 to support the development and implementation of the program pipeline for the JA Academy and the JA Discovery Centers.

 One of the most notable aspects of Cisco’s partnership with JA of Georgia is their presenting sponsorship at JA BizTown at the JA Discovery Center at Gwinnett. Opened in 2015, JA BizTown presented by Cisco provides an unmatched experience where 6th grade students are able to interact within a simulated economy and take on the challenge of fueling a business. Here, students not only discover the intricacies of being a professional and member of the community, but also discover the abundance of opportunities available within their city.

 The success of the JA Discovery Centers has only grown since their launch, and the impact the experiential simulations have is evident in student engagement and changed perspectives. To continue to elevate its impact, JA of Georgia launched the JA Academy in August 2015.

 “Today’s students are facing an economy based on rapidly changing technologies – many that don’t even exist yet,” said Jack Harris, President and CEO of JA of Georgia. “In order to effectively prepare students for this new reality, their education must be relevant and authentic; it must move past theory and connect them to the complexities of the real world.”

 With support from Cisco and other partners, JA Academy is re-engineering the high school experience to be more relevant, experiential and authentically-connected to life beyond the classroom walls. JA Academy provides four years of high school education through a lens that engages students and prepares them for success. It is integrated learning through dynamic case studies, collaborating with peers, and access to industries to gain exposure and build the skills needed to go as far as one can dream.

The first year at Banneker High School resulted in JA Academy students consistently outperforming their freshman peers, as well as a significant drop in absenteeism compared to the same peer group. The second JA Academy opened at Norcross High School in Gwinnett County in August 2016, and the third is slated to open in August 2017 at B.E.S.T. Academy in Atlanta Public Schools.