PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2015 LOCAL TEENS PREPARE TO COMPETE IN JA NEW YORK’S ANNUAL YOUTH BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION NEW YORK, NY – Today, Junior Achievement of New York announced that the final round of the 2015 Business Plan Competition will be hosted at the mid-town offices of KKR on Thursday, May 28, 2015. Now in its eighth year, the Business Plan Competition, JA New York’s flagship, youth, entrepreneurship education program, provides NYC and Long Island students the opportunity to pitch ideas for new business ventures in an exciting competition format. In addition, prominent members of the NYC and Long Island business communities serve as judges. This year, more than 150 teams (nearly 700 students) will spend three months conceiving, researching, developing and competitively pitching enterprising ideas for products or services that could transform the travel and tourism industry. The top three winning teams will walk away with cash prizes valued up to nearly $20,000. The 2015 cycle of the program kicked off at the end of February with a six-week intensive business plan writing boot camp. With the support of business coaches and mentors, students accepted JA New York’s challenge to develop detailed roadmaps of how they plan to achieve their proposed business ideas and goals. The second phase of the program consists of a series of knockout rounds – where student teams compete to advance to a final round – the concluding phase of the program. There, they will compete and learn from each other in a high stakes, real world business pitch experience. Established in 2008, the JA New York Business Plan Competition, funded by The Nasdaq Educational Foundation, Terex Corporation, and G.C. Andersen Partners, provides students from various socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of academic achievement, the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship, and the business planning and funding process. Participating students develop and strengthen in-demand soft skills like critical thinking, communication, and collaborative problem solving, in a realistic business scenario. Students grow in confidence, and most importantly, they begin to think about life beyond high school by exploring new options and pathways for future career success. “We recognize that not all students want or need to start their own businesses, although many will,” said Joseph Peri, President of JA New York. “The main goal of the Business Plan Competition is to help young people become more competitive and more adaptable in a constantly changing business environment. In addition, we hope to encourage them to ‘think entrepreneurially’ - to provide solutions to their generation’s challenges, whether they jumpstart their own ventures, or provide value by working for someone else.” Participating schools include: Academy of Finance and Enterprise Bronx High School of Science Commack High School High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies Newcomers High School New Hyde Park Memorial High School Kings Park High School Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment High School of Economics and Finance Brooklyn Prep High School Brooklyn Technical High School Leadership and Public Service High School Manhattan Bridges High School St. Joseph High School W.T. Clarke High School Cathedral High School Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science For more information about the Business Plan Competition, visit: http://jany.org/programs/business-plancompetition/. For press inquiries regarding the Junior Achievement of New York Business Plan Competition: Contact: Jacqueline Dolly, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications Junior Achievement of New York 212-907-0046 jdolly@jany.org ### ABOUT JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF NEW YORK Junior Achievement of New York is the local affiliate of Junior Achievement USA, the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. We recruit, train, and mobilize more than 5000 corporate and community volunteers to provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Today, JA New York delivers nearly 70,000 student experiences per year, free of cost, in more than 200 NYC and Long Island public schools. Visit http://www.jany.org/ for more information