JEC X Council for Economic Education Challenges
We have partnered with the Council for Economic Education to organize student forums for semifinalists and other select participants of the National Personal Finance Challenge and National Economics Challenge. 20+ members collaborated to develop marketing tools, find guest speakers, and direct engaging breakout room activities. The three forums are outlined below:
Regional Student Forum (May 2nd, 2021): Amelia O’Rourke Owens, Associate Director at America Saves; Willene Johnson, Former Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Alden Richards, Lecturer at Brown and Yale University
National Economics Challenge Student Forum (May 21st, 2021): Samantha Kappagoda, Chief Economist and Co-Founder of Risk Economics; Larry Kantor, Operating Partner at Atlas Merchant Capital; Barry Haimes, Managing Partner at Sage Asset Management; Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics
National Personal Finance Challenge Student Forum (May 27th, 2021): Renee M. Greene, Vice President at Goldman Sachs; Helena Darling, Associate Vice President at Bessemer Trust; Michael Nemecek, Director at Voya Financial
JEC X Chicago Public Schools Website Initiative
We have partnered with Chicago Public Schools to develop websites for 11 under-resourced schools. Throughout the school year, JEC members worked within teams and with the administrations of each respective school to determine their priorities and information distribution needs. Members then created websites tailored to each school, funded by the Chicago Public Schools Children First Fund. To ensure the sustainability of the websites, JEC members provided training to each school’s website manager and also launched computer science clubs so current students could learn to maintain and further develop the websites.
The Junior Economic Club High Returns Program
200+ Middle school students served
What is High Returns?
High Returns is our primary community outreach initiative, centered around fostering financial literacy education at an early age. During this program, students will have the opportunity to explore their skills, interests, values, and the world of work to make informed education, career, and life decisions. This program was developed with a primary emphasis on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness, while also providing a strong secondary emphasis on mathematics, reading, and writing skills. Upon completion of our program, students will have learned fundamental business and economic concepts, explored career interests and opportunities, and developed work-readiness skills.
How does it work?
The leaders of this program are Junior Economic Club members who are passionate about being mentors for younger Chicago students. These members have gone through financial literacy training and are more than qualified to be educating Chicago middle schoolers about these important topics.
With High Returns, four to five JEC members lead a series of 45-minute Zoom workshops on finance for 7th and 8th graders at various local, underserved elementary schools. The workshops are exciting, interactive, and engaging, while simultaneously teaching students about important topics and life skills such as the concept of credit and identifying the connection between goal setting, personal finance, education, and career choices. You can view a brief overview of the lessons here.
Why does it matter?
Studies have shown that in-school teaching of financial literacy from a young age has a significant impact on a student’s financial success and competency as an adult. However, financial literacy is rarely taught in elementary schools or and some high schools throughout the nation. It is also proven that low-income and minority students are more likely to be less financially literate in their adulthood. These are the problems that the Junior Economic Club is trying to solve with the High Returns initiative.
JEC INVESTMENT TEAM
What is the JEC Investment Team?
This program is designed to offer members the opportunity to learn key skills pertaining to stock-market investing in a collaborative environment. Members will contribute to building the Team’s virtual investment portfolio with teammates from JEC chapters across the country.
How does it work?
The Team is divided into 11 Sector groups, with each group focusing on securities within that sector. Along with their teammates, they conduct research, craft investment theses, and pitch stocks to the rest of the Investment Team.
Every two to three weeks, the Team as a whole meets to exchange stock pitches, discuss recent market activity, and review portfolio holdings. In between Team-wide meetings, Sector teams meet to discuss activity pertaining to their sector and formulate pitches.
Is any prior experience required?
No prior experience is required to join. We provide educational content and regularly discuss market activity to stay abreast of current events and their impact on markets. Furthermore, this initiative is non-competitive and education is a central component of its mission. Sector teams share their research and knowledge with new members with the goal of fostering open dialogue and creating learning experiences for all members.
Virtual Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program
We are presenting a free Virtual Accelerator program for aspiring high school entrepreneurs in Chicago. The first session is open to anyone who is interested in learning the basics of building a business. Actively engaged students from the first session will be given preference when applying for the second session, a more intensive Accelerator offering one on one mentorship. Students will learn how to come up with an idea, perform customer research, pitch, and sell a product. All material taught is from JEC Alumni Alan Phung’s four years of experience working at startup companies and in accelerators. To view more information about the program, please view this document.
2112 Entrepreneurship Workshop Program
10 workshops led. 5 Businesses accelerated.
Located within the 160,000 square feet B2B creative industry ecosystem of Fort Knox Studios, 2112 is Chicago’s first incubator focused on the development of entrepreneurs and disruption in music, film/video, and creative technology.
We have partnered with 2112 to launch various workshops led by prominent Chicago entrepreneurs in brainstorming, marketing, leadership, and app/website development.
In addition to learning how to start your own business, 2112 grants JEC members full access to all services and networks at 2112 as a member, including mentorship from Chicago’s brightest digital designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
Chicago Youth Council for Economic Development
We have worked directly with Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers and his office to hold the Youth Council for Economic Development, a forum for communication between club members, city officials, and community leaders. Consisting of entirely JEC members, students on the Council can share their perspectives on a variety of topics and work to create solutions for issues that are important to students and the city.