Northwood Students Prepare for Future Economic Success

students recently got some help preparing for the challenges and rewards of living in a global economy from more than 80 employee volunteers from Elavon, a global provider of payment services.  

The half-day event, held May 2, was done in partnership with the school and Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia. Broken into groups by grade levels, employees directed students as they worked through activities that focus on core concepts of business, personal finance and how education is relevant to the workplace. 

“We are developing a long-term partnership with Junior Achievement that provides our employees an invaluable opportunity to serve our local community by investing in the future of our children and our country,” said Mike Passilla, CEO of Elavon. “Our mission at Elavon is to enable global commerce. Together with JA’s mission to provide financial literacy programs to children, we are working jointly to enable work force readiness in our global economy."

Each school year, JA of Georgia partners with elementary, middle and high schools across metro Atlanta to teach students about entrepreneurship, personal financial literacy and workforce readiness. JA of Georgia is a nonprofit organization focused on youth development in areas of education development and economic development.

“Junior Achievement programs are designed to bring professionals into the classroom environment to add real-world relevancy to the lessons and enable students to connect the value of education to future success,” said Jack Harris, president of Junior Achievement of Georgia. “This year, JA will reach more than 115,000 students in metro Atlanta schools. This is only possible with the support of volunteers from companies like Elavon."