WATERVILLE — Junior Achievement of Maine is set to host its 19th annual JA Titan Challenge for high school students on Thursday, April 3. This immersive business competition introduces students to business, entrepreneurship and leadership development by providing a real-world simulation that puts students in the CEO seat to run a cell phone company.
Junior Achievement of Maine is set to host its 19th annual JA Titan Challenge for high school students on Thursday, April 3. From left in 2024 are Marina Gilman, Gage Howarth, and Christian Schuitema, all from Madison Jr./Sr. High School. Mentor Anthony Sementelli from Kennebec Wealth Management stands behind them. Submitted photo
The challenge is part of the JA Titan Experience, a five-week program taught in the classroom by JA volunteers. It culminates into a single-day, statewide challenge hosted at businesses and universities throughout the state. Thomas College is one of eight host sites, uniting schools, students, and companies within Maine. As a tool to develop Maine’s workforce, the JA Titan Experience introduces students to career pathways and career clusters within specific industries within Maine, according to a news release from MacKenzie Young at Thomas College.
Teams of students will compete as they each make decisions for their cell phone company based on elements like profit equation, predicting business outcomes, budgeting, research and development, and corporate social responsibility. Mentors from the community and within Thomas College support students by sharing their own work and life experience, networking with students, and providing guidance during several rounds of competition.
Thomas College alumni, faculty and staff will serve as mentors, including Brian King, alumnus and Thomas College board member and Junior Achievement board member; Travis Dow, alumnus; Don Cragen, faculty; Tyler LeClair, alumnus; Brooke Haskell, staff member; and Ryan Kappelmann, alumnus and staff member.
The 2025 Challenge, the biggest to date, will match nearly 300 high school students with over 100 mentors from businesses and organizations across the state. There will be a regional winning team at each location, as well as a first- and second-place winning team. Members of the top two teams will receive scholarships for post-secondary education donated by Machias Savings Bank.
The event is hosted at eight locations from 8:15 a.m.-1:45 p.m. April 3:
Tyler Technologies, Yarmouth
Dead River Company, South Portland
Systems Engineering, Portland
IDEXX, Westbrook
Bangor Savings Bank, Bangor
Thomas College, Waterville
Machias Savings Bank, Machias
University of Maine, Presque Isle Campus
To learn more visit maine.ja.org.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Join the Conversation
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve.
By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs.
You can modify your screen name here.
Show less
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your CentralMaine.com account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.