Volunteers work with Junior Achievement students

BANGOR – A cadre of business and professional volunteers from the Bangor Region Junior Achievement of Maine worked with local students on Wednesday. Topics included identifying skills and interests, marketing yourself and job interviews, effective workplace behaviors, personal and family budgeting and using credit wisely.

Irv Marsters, chairman of the Bangor Junior Achievement Advisory Council, said that Junior Achievement is a not-for-profit organization financed by businesses, foundations and individuals. The purpose is to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business and economics to improve their lives. The Middle Grades Program, Personal Economics, helps pupils assess personal skills and interests, explore career options, learn job hunting skills and practice personal and family financial management.

Together with teachers and school administrators, business volunteers serve as role models, lead discussion and activities and enrich the Junior Achievement program with their own experience and business knowledge.

Among the presenters for the JA-In-A-Day Program were Suzanne Wagner and Sarah Chaffey of the Training and Development Corp.; Michael Shirley of the Maine Department of Labor Bangor Career Center; Kathy Simpson of Merrill Bank in Holden; Marion Syverson, president of Norumbega Financial in Hampden; and Steve Baillargeon, Krisie Libby and Donna Ketchen of the Penobscot County Federal Credit Union in Old Town.

A panel of community representatives interacting with students about effective workplace behaviors comprised Knud Hermansen, professor of construction management technology at the University of Maine; Capt. Larry Wade, Maine Maritime Academy; Clarence Jewell, electrician and Home Depot employee; Dan Bean, firefighter and emergency medical technician, Old Town Fire Department; and Dr. Sean Kull, optometrist with Kull Family Eye Care in Orono.

As students discover the importance of having marketable skills, they begin to explore the implications of exchanging those skills for wages and salaries, Marsters said. Will the wages and salaries they receive enable them to obtain what they want and need? The discussion of market activity leads naturally into a discussion of personal budgeting, managing finances and the use of credit. How far will money take them in the market? From there, students can explore savings options and investment opportunities like the stock market as they look for ways to add value to the exchanges they have made in the marketplace.

Person economics is about how individuals choose to work and live in a market economy. Through Junior Achievement activities, students understand that their choices rely on their decisions about the future.

More than 60 Junior Achievement classes are offered in Bangor region schools. For more information, e-mail irv@bangorlettershop.com or program@jamaine.org.