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JAGNO History |
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1919 First Junior Achievement founded in Springfield, Massachusetts. 1954
New Orleans civic leaders, Percival Stern and Marion "Hoss" Kessler,
brought Junior Achievement to New Orleans after reviewing the Junior
Achievement program operating elsewhere in the US.
1955
Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans, Inc. is officially
incorporated under State of Louisiana law on February 16, 1955. Official
papers are signed in the board room of Whitney Bank. 1960 Percival Stern purchases a building at 218 Camp Street for $160,000 and
donates it to Junior Achievement. By 1961, all JAGNO Student Companies meet at
the Camp Street site. 1964
As the program grew, the first student organized trade fair was held at
the Jung Hotel. These trade fairs featured all student companies and
allowed for the display and sale of their products.
1967 Renovation of the 218 Camp Street building is
completed with funds bequeathed by Times Picayune executive Chapman "Chapppie"
Hyams and the building is dedicated as the Stern-Hyams Junior Achievement
Center, "the largest and most modern JA Center in the world."
1974
The first of JAGNO's in-school, classroom-based projects known as Project
Business is developed and implemented in local schools. Junior Achievement
board member, Simon "Skip" Shlenker, teaches the first classroom of
Project Business at Bell Jr. High School.
1981
JAGNO relocates its offices to a newly constructed building at 401 City
Park Avenue. The facility holds the administrative offices of Junior
Achievement, as well as the student companies of the now re-named After
School Program. 1982
JAGNO
introduces its second in-school program, Applied Economics, designed to
serve as a fully-accredited course towards the economic/free-enterprise
curriculum in high schools.
1984 JAGNO conducts its first annual Business Hall
of Fame. The first year class of inductees includes Business Laureates James
J. Coleman, Sr., Gertrude Gardner, Alden J. Laborde, Alden McDonald, Jr.,
and William M. Metcalf, Jr.
1992 JAGNO introduces its new sequential programming model
with the national piloting of a new kindergarten through sixth grade
curriculum. 2001 JAGNO New Orleans Board commits to bring the 5th and 6th grade
experiential learning program, Exchange City, to New Orleans and initiates
$2,000,000 capital campaign.
2002 JAGNO breaks ground for new office complex and new 10,000
sq. ft. Exchange City - New Orleans on the City Park Campus of Delgado
Community College. 2003
Heralded on a live, remote broadcast on WWL-TV New Orleans, JA's
Exchange City New Orleans opens its doors. Fifth-grader Heather Henderson
of New Orleans Public School Osborne Elementary is the first Mayor of
Exchange City - New Orleans. 2005 JAGNO celebrates 50 years of educating and inspiring the youth
of Greater New Orleans and achieves significant milestones. Exchange City
- New Orleans welcomes its 10,000th student during its second full year of
operation. In response to a request by the Superintendent of New Orleans
Public Schools, JA New Orleans begins the first year of a multi-year
commitment to bring the JA volunteer-taught business and entrepreneurship
curriculum into every kindergarten through eighth grade classroom of the
public school system, a first for any JA office in the world. JAGNO
reaches over over 33,000 kids a year. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastate New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes are left in ruins. St.
Tammany, Jefferson and St. Charles have plenty schools to repair.
Exchange City and the JA facility are inundated by flood waters. One
thousand people died, but thousands more lost their homes and have become
permanently displaced. Half of the JA staff becomes permanently
displaced, but the remainder carries on their noble purpose, and within 1
month of the hurricanes, they meet again to plot JA's recovery.
First JA classes resume before Christmas. 2006 JA New Orleans Business Hall of Fame celebrates its 25th anniversary. JAGNO offers afterschool and summer camp programming. These students in addition to our in-school students total our student reach is at 16,304. 2007 Funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the rebuild of JAGNO’s Hurricane Katrina-destroyed facility begins under the management of the Louisiana Office of Facility Planning and Control and New Orleans architects Lyons & Hudson. JA New Orleans reaches 21,564 students. 2008 JAGNO selected by Junior Achievement Worldwide and Capital One Bank to debut new mobile financial literacy learning site and program for middle and high school students known as Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park. JA New Orleans reaches 24,174 students, nearing closer to our pre-Hurricane Katrina level. 2009 JAGNO post-Hurricane Katrina rebuild is completed and the new elementary school site-based kid city learning experience, JA BizTown, is opened. JAGNO’s premiere fundraising golf tournament, the Crescent City Corporate Championship presented by Blessey Marine Services, Inc., marks its 10th anniversary. Today, JA provides sequential curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12 in public, private, and parochial schools throughout Southeast Louisiana. All Junior Achievement programs are designed for particular age groups and introduce students to economic concepts that enhance their understanding of the world around them. JA's sequential integrated kindergarten through grade 12 programs help young people use information, apply basic skills, think critically and solve complex problems. |
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5100 Orleans Avenue |