JA Alumni in the News: Turning Point
December 17, 2025 Saskatchewan What started as an In-School JA Company Program experience in 2021 has now developed into an apparel business in Regina, SK: Turning Point. The business stays close to it’s mission and donates 20% of their profits to support to mental health and suicide prevention by supporting the You Matter Foundation. In November, Logan Curle & Tayson Smith were featured in a CTV segment to share more about Turning Point. This was a great opportunity to feature the business, where it began and where it is going. Logan Curle was also the recipient of the 2022 JA Future Leaders Scholarship referencing his experiences with through JA and the JA Company Program and the early days of his involvement with Turning Point. CTV Media Segment Watch CTV Segment Learn About Turning Point Love0 Share Share Share Pin
JA Canada Participates in Trades Summit in Northwest Territories
We were deeply honoured to partner with Aurora College over the past two weeks to support 90 youth in the Northwest Territories as they explored pathways in the trades and learned about budgeting, entrepreneurship and career planning. Spending time in Fort Smith, NWT, allowed us to witness the strength of Indigenous communities, the beauty of the land, and the deep collaboration that truly reflects the meaning of community. Thank you to the people of Fort Smith for welcoming us and allowing JA to be part of the Trades Awareness Program. We were delighted to have students participate in the JA Be Entrepreneurial program and participate in a hands-on budgeting activity. Student Testimonials: I really liked how much variety there is in the program. Everyone was super nice. All in all, 11/10 experience! I want to be a clothing designer because I have been making clothes out of scraps since I was younger. I t brings me joy knowing I’m able to make something out of nothing with a piece of fabric. I liked learning new trades that I haven’t done yet and don’t know. Love0 Share Share Share Pin
The Summer We Watched Possibility Turn Into Proof
There’s a moment in every good story when the work stops being practice and starts being real. For students this summer, that moment looked like sticky fingers, a half-straightened label, and a customer who smiled at the very first bite. On a Wednesday that smelled faintly of printer ink and strawberries, a circle of teenagers leaned over jars and sketches, debating fonts and colours with the seriousness of seasoned entrepreneurs. “Bolder font.” “Cleaner.” “Does this feel like us?” What began as an idea on paper had become something you could hold, taste, and share, a business with a name, a product, and a story of its own. They called it Strawbuddies, a name born from a dozen discarded ideas and one shared belief: we can do this. Not in theory. Not someday. NOW. This was the heartbeat of a BIPOC JA Company Program, a space intentionally built so young people who have been told “wait your turn” more times than they can count could build, sell and learn right now. With mentors like Sarah Lane and Ally Pyle asking sharper questions instead of giving easy answers, the students learned that business is less about having the perfect plan and more about listening, iterating, and showing up. The McCall MacBain Foundation made sure the lights were on, the doors were open, and the tools were there. The students did the rest. And it wasn’t just a classroom that changed this summer. Down the highway in Port Hope, conversations turned into commitments. At Trade Tech Industries, our President & CEO, John McNutt, stood beside Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training & Skills Development, David Piccini (also MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South), to talk investment in skills and about the future of Ontario’s workforce. The conversation was practical in the best way: how do we get more young people into the pipeline: skilled, confident, and hungry to learn? What do employers need? What tools do young people need? Where do employers have openings? And how do we stitch those two maps together? Then came Avery Pick’s story, a JA student from Flexjet, a small, clear example of what happens when opportunities meet preparation and how a program cracked open a door. She didn’t speak from a script; she spoke from a place that said, “This program changed the way I see what I can do.” That line landed in a room full of policymakers and employers in a way that budgets never could. Back in the JA Company Program, the team was learning a quieter lesson: entrepreneurship isn’t a sprint to a finish line; it’s a conversation with your community. Strawbuddies wasn’t just delicious, it was local, theirs, and surprisingly sophisticated for a first product because the students made it that way. They learned that pricing is a story, packaging is trust, and a good debrief after a bad sales day is the difference between stuck and stronger. When the Rossy Foundation, in celebration of Dollarama’s 30+ years serving Canadians, stepped in to support JA’s signature JA Company Program, it clicked into place. This is how change scales: one partner steadies the ladder while another holds the blueprint, and the students climb. If you pull the camera back, the picture is simple and stunning: A jar of jam that began as a half-sketched idea and now sits in someone’s kitchen, proof that youth can ship real things. The roundtable and sight tour in Port Hope, where industry and education agree that opportunity isn’t accidental; it’s designed. And finally, a student story that reminds us investment isn’t measured only in dollars, it’s measured in direction. Through it all is a throughline of leadership you almost don’t notice until you do, the steady, student-first focus of John McNutt. No fanfare, just the same question asked in different rooms: What would it take for this young person to thrive? Ask that enough times, and you get summers like this one. So yes, we taught budgeting and marketing. We practised pitching and customer engagement. We checked all the boxes that look good in a report. But the real outcome is harder to graph and easier to feel: Confidence. The kind that turns “maybe” into “I’ll try,” and “I’ll try” into “I did.” It’s students learning to speak up in a meeting, to balance a budget, to take a risk and survive it. It’s a bedtime conversation about price points and packaging that would have sounded impossible before. The moment a student stops waiting to be chosen and starts choosing themselves. If you read one line and take it with you, let it be this: when communities, mentors, funders, and leaders ask the same question: How do we help young peoplethrive? The answer is not a single program. It’s a network of small, stubborn acts that, together, change trajectories. We’re not done. Strawbuddies is Chapter One. The roundtable in Port Hope is a bridge. The support from our partners is fuel. And the next student who walks into a JA room will find not just a lesson, but a launchpad. We’re building more of them. Want to help write Chapter Two? Mentor, host, invest, or simply come listen. Stop by and ask a student what they’re working on. They’ll light up. You will, too. From ideas to impact, from “maybe” to “we did it”, that was the story of our summer. And if the students have anything to say about it, it’s only Chapter One. Love0 Share Share Share Pin
Teacher Spotlight: JA in Saskatchewan
July 31, 2024 National Learn More About Margot Arnold Through This Interview How long have you been incorporating JA Company Program into your classroom? I have been teaching for 23 years at the end of June 2024. I have taught Entrepreneurship since 2002 and incorporated the Junior Achievement Program into my Ent. 30 class since 2014. A former Entrepreneurship teacher then working for the Ministry of Education, arranged a meeting with me to discuss this option. I have never gone back to textbook and assignment/project base. The hands-on, real-life experience provides an invaluable experience for the students. How may JA Company Program teams have you supported/mentored over the years? I have supported/mentored 25 Junior Achievement companies–this semester is my last and 25th company. What types of businesses have your students developed? Do you have any highlights that you can share? Students often ask me, which was your favorite? I reply all of them! The ideas for JA products have varied over the years and many were unique. JA SK has annual Business Hall of Fame Awards. Several of the JA companies listed below have won numerous awards including Product Design. What skills have you seen your students develop or further enhance by participating in JA Company Program? The skills the students have developed, enhanced, and acquired are dependent on what they put into the company. It is so rewarding to see the growth from the beginning of the semester until the end. What do you feel is the biggest takeaway students gain from the program? I believe one of the biggest takeaways for students is learning how to work respectively with everyone. The companies are comprised of such varying personalities, which may clash sometimes, and you have to learn to make it work. Also, students can easily see this program as one which so many life skills occur. Teamwork, Communication, Organization, Leadership are all areas where I have observed students grow from the beginning to the end of the semester. Do you have any students quotes you can share? “Thanks to Junior Achievement, I am currently planning to pursue a career in business after high school.” “The Junior Achievement Program has taught me hands-on what running a business is all about. It is a unique program that lets young adults experience more than just questions out of a textbook.” “The Junior Achievement Program was an incredible experience, and I learned more than I ever imagined about business and how to apply it to real-life.” “Junior Achievement gave me a real sense of business and responsibility.” “Junior Achievement gave me the confidence that I can be a business leader of tomorrow.” Do you have any words of wisdom to share with those who may be thinking of supporting JA Company Program in their classroom? I believe the Junior Achievement program is invaluable. It is a “real life” hands-on class where students repeatedly say it was their best class in high school. I encourage my students to not only make a PROFIT, but to make a DIFFERENCE! Ten percent of their company profits must be donated to a charity/non-profit of the company’s choice. To date, without the 25th company’s donation, the WCS Junior Achievement program has donated $17,625.47 back to charities and non-profits. A huge thank you to Margot for her time and dedication to the JA Company Program! Love0 Share Share Share Pin
Student Spotlight: JA in Saskatchewan
June 21, 2024 National Jenna Knupp JA Canada Tell us about your JA company and your role within the company? My name is Jenna Knupp, and I was a co-president for Sweets & Treats Co, for the junior achievement program at Weyburn Comprehensive School. Sweets & Treats Co was a retail food company that focused on selling a variety of treats including chocolate covered pretzels in two flavors white and milk chocolate, Christmas crunch which was a chocolate covered popcorn snack mix, fudge pops in two flavors maple and chocolate and fudge in two main flavors maple and chocolate. Fudge was our main focus, so as well in January we did a specialty fudge promotion that included six new flavors of fudge Orange Chocolate Swirl, Mint Chocolate Swirl, Vanilla, Vanilla M&M, Chocolate Chip Swirl and our fan favorite Cookies & Cream. Our company was extremely successful, bringing in $18,135.69 in sales with $12,500.00 in profit. Myself alone I brought in $3,794.20 in sales, which represented 24.5% of the company’s total revenue. Our company was proud to donate $1,389.20 to the Andon Hoff Memorial fund as a way to give back to our community. Our company was very successful, and I am so proud of all we accomplished. Since my JA experience has come to an end, I decided to use all the skills I learned to start my own business. My fudge company is called “Jenna’s Sweet Shop” and hope to expand my fudge flavor pallet and market my product in memory of my grandma who was also a fudge entrepreneur. What did you learn by participating in the JA Company Program? Junior Achievement taught me so many valuable lessons that I will take with into my post-secondary education and my future career. I was constantly being asked questions and being asked to come up with solutions to any problems that came to the surface. I would evaluate situations and resolve conflict between my peers on a daily basis. I also learned how different personalities mix together to create a team. Everyone has value and needs to be treated with respect. Each person brings something different to the table, some personalities might be more outgoing and energetic, while others might be more calm and thoughtful. When you combine all of the different aspects you can create a well-rounded team that can tackle any challenge thrown their way. No matter how stressful the situation was or how overwhelmed I felt I made sure to have constant resilience and to always bring a positive attitude to class each day. I was nominated for salesperson of the year, achiever of the year and president of the year by my peers. This experience has put me in a real workplace environment and showed me that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could. Alongside junior achievement, I also played on the school basketball team. Maintaining my grades was especially important to me, so I had to be mindful of how I used my time. I worked hard to create a balance between academics, sports, and my leadership role. Which is a skill I am thankful to have learned from junior achievement. Would you recommend this program to other students? Junior achievement is a wonderful program that helps young adults start early in the business world. If you are interested in anything business or entrepreneurship related the JA program is the perfect class to take. JA didn’t only give me new knowledge in business but also left me with new lifelong friends. I would recommend the JA program to all other students as it doesn’t only give you business knowledge but also new skillsets like teamwork, multitasking, communication and critical thinking. All these skills can be used in any job, not only business-related jobs, so I recommend everyone take part in the Junior achievement program. Love0 Share Share Share Pin