BROOKINGS – Dacotah Bank pledged $2,500 to Junior Achievement for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year for the Brookings and Sioux Valley school districts. This total is an aggregate of funds from Give Where We Live, Jeans Day Money and a local branch pledge. 

With financial assistance such as this, Junior Achievement is able to impact over 2,500 local students by providing in the classroom education curriculums ranging from first grade up to high school. Junior Achievements three main pillars are entrepreneurship, financial literacy and career/work readiness.   

Junior Achievement was founded in 1919 by Theodore Vail, president of American Telephone & Telegraph; Horace Moses, president of Strathmore Paper Co.; and Sen. Murray Crane of Massachusetts. Its first program, JA Company Program, was offered to high school students on an after-school basis. In 1975, the organization entered the classroom with the introduction of Project Business for the middle grades. Over the last 39 years, Junior Achievement has expanded its activities and broadened its scope to include in-school and after-school students. 

Junior Achievement’s purpose is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Junior Achievement’s 243,756 classroom volunteers come from all walks of life, including business people, college students, parents and retirees.