State Farm Insurance has awarded Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest (JAUM) more than $75,000 in recognition of its work with the organization’s high school and college volunteers. This money will be used for classroom materials, recognition and recruitment events, and was awarded specifically for the work that UST students do.
UST students serve as Junior Achievement volunteers and work with staff at JAUM to recruit volunteers to teach Junior Achievement curriculum in K-12 classrooms. UST volunteers are unique among Junior Achievement. Whereas most volunteers come from corporate partners such as Wells Fargo, US Bank and General Mills, UST students are able to serve as role models and introduce the idea of a college education to students.
The student group on campus is known as the Junior Achievement Recruiting Team and is a part of Delta Sigma Pi (the business fraternity) and is comprised of business majors. They recruit primarily business students but students from every major can volunteer. Since its inception more than four years ago, the Junior Achievement Recruiting Team has placed more than 400 volunteers in St. Paul classrooms.
Three Opus College of Business students attended the grant presentation in February: Paul Conney '10, UST Junior Achievement Recruiting Chair; Dan Lingg '10, UST JA Recruiting committee member; and Scott Ruprecht '10, UST JA volunteer.