From JA

Maine – Local nonprofit and youth empowerment organization Junior Achievement of Maine (JA) has announced the statewide first and second place winners of the redeveloped JA Titan Challenge.

Heading into its 15th year hosting the business event, this spring, JA released a redeveloped Titan Challenge program with an enhanced user experience. Featuring 23 competing high schools, the simulation-based program asks high school students to compete as business CEOs in the phone industry, experiencing firsthand how an organization evaluates alternatives, makes decisions, analyzes the outcomes of those decisions, and then strategizes what to do next.

This year’s JA Titan Challenge was a brand-new user experience developed by a national design group. The more than 250 Maine high schoolers participating in the experience were the first in the nation to compete on the redeveloped competition platform.

The event took place virtually, connecting students from various high schools on two separate days of competition on April 7 and 9. Students participated in program modules leading up to the event.

This year’s first place winners are students from Yarmouth High School in Cumberland County. The team of Elliott (Zhi) Cowles, Owen Gillan, and Frazier Dougherty earned the title by strategically maneuvering their virtual business through three rounds of competition. Each student earned a $1000 post-secondary scholarship provided by Machias Savings Bank, as well as up to $10,000 in scholarships to attend Thomas College.

Henry Hebert, Blake Martin, and Rudy Quinonez, students from Van Buren High School in Aroostook County took second place, each earning a $500 scholarship sponsored by the MES Foundation.

Competing schools included:

Biddeford Regional Center of Technology

Brunswick High School

Calais High School

Cape Elizabeth High School

Caribou High School

Caribou Technology Center

Erskine Academy

Fort Kent High School

Freeport High School

Gardiner Area High School

Hodgdon High School

Jonesport-Beals High School

Messalonskee High School

Mountain Valley High School

Presque Isle Regional Career and Technical Center

Sanford High School

Sanford Regional Technical Center

Van Buren High School

Washington Academy

Westbrook High School

Westbrook Regional Vocational Center

Woodland Jr/Sr High School

Yarmouth High School

Junior Achievement of Maine (JA) is a youth empowerment organization that connects K-12 students with business volunteers across the state to facilitate hands-on programming about entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy.

Each year, JA reaches thousands of young Mainers in their classrooms, helping them understand the role of education and work in their lives and preparing them for the future.

In response to evolving educator and student needs, JA has pivoted programming to digital formatting designed to keep students engaged and virtually connected with the real world around them.