By Mia Voss of the Mia Connect

As a first-time participant in JA Business Week, I was anticipating great things. But I had no idea how life-changing it would be! Beginning with the Mocktails Event, it was such a privilege to talk with the students, hear them share their stories, and discuss their ongoing process for each of their projects. Kudos to JA for creating such a unique event that was beneficial for everyone who attended.

Next up was the Entrepreneurial Summit, sponsored by Accenture – this was also an amazing event that brought all of the students together in one room spend time with a panel of entrepreneurs and grill them with questions.  And wow, did they ever! I was privileged to be a part of the panel with Todd Lindenbaum of Sports Shares, Taylor Palmie of Alkaline Clothing and Leonid Yuffa of Dazbog Coffee.  The caliber of questions posed by the students was challenging and intriguing.

Finally, the judging portion was the most exciting part of the week. This was the culmination of all of the efforts of the teams and, after talking with the kids at the various events, you could see the amount of effort that was put into each presentation. It took incredible courage for the students to present to an audience of their peers & the judges. I was duly impressed with each and every one of them!

The biggest take-away from JA Business Week was how encouraging it was to witness all the amazing energy and what a bright future is in store for all of these students.  Thank you to Junior Achievement for the opportunity to participate in such an amazing array of events!

e-Summit panelists Mia Voss, Todd Lindenbaum, Taylor Palmie and Leonid Yuffa