Junior Achievement: Helping students prepare for work, life, and success

With company values that include Passionate, Inclusive, and Sustainable, we’ve always been committed to investing in young people and their potential. Partnering with Junior Achievement (JA) of Western PA is one way our employees demonstrate the rewards of living our values by supporting and encouraging our next generation.

JA is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people from Kindergarten through 12^th grade the knowledge and skills to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and financial choices. In short, JA prepares them for work life and good citizenship.

“One of the most exciting things about Junior Achievement is that its programs equip young people with skills that they would not — or could not — learn anywhere else,” notes Carol Jackson, chairman, and CEO at HWI and an alumnus of JA. She is currently a JA Western PA Board of Directors member and was co-chair of its recent Biz Town Capital Campaign.

Carol is not the only passionate supporter of JA at HWI. Over the past several years, more than 100 of our employees have helped JA by participating in JA’s annual Bowl-a-Thon events and other fundraising initiatives. HWI raised approximately $110K between 2016 and 2019, which equates to providing financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship training to approximately 3,375 K-12 students.

Carol is proud to recount the many ways in which JA provided her with vital experiences that shaped her future, adding that “true life skills, like balancing a checkbook, public speaking, – and so much more — have the power to change lives!”