Junior Achievement of Maine Announces Winners of TITAN CHALLENGE

Statewide Sponsor Travelers helps expand Junior Achievement programs with funding from its EducationAd advertising through CBS EcoMedia
Feb 15, 2013 7:15 PM ET
Campaign: EducationAd
Titan Challenge high school teams from throughout Maine working at this year's 7th annual Titan Challenge at the University of Southern Maine in Portland working with their mentors.

February 15, 2013 /3BL Media/ - And the winner is……The 7th Annual Junior Achievement of Maine’s Titan Challenge was the biggest ever! This year 99 teams from 33 high schools participated throughout the State. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Robert Moore of Dead River Company was at the University of Southern Maine’s Glickman Library to announce the winners.

Big congratulations to “Rams 2” team from Kennebunk High School mentored by Peter Welles from IDEXX Laboratories who placed first. Each member of the winning team took home $1,000 scholarships for post-secondary education. Second place $500 scholarship winners went to “Biddeford 5” team from Biddeford Regional Center of Technology, mentored by Chris Magnuson of WASCO Products, Inc. “Eagles 2” team from Erskine Academy mentored by Jamie St. Claire of KeyBank took home third place, winning $250 scholarships to each team member. All scholarships were generously sponsored by Maine Education Services.

The JA Titan Challenge is a unique online business competition that puts high school students in the leadership seat to run a virtual company. Each three -student team took on the role of CEO, CFO, and Marketing R&D as they directly competed with the other teams to successfully sustain their business. Each team was matched with a business mentor from the community to guide them through decision making.

Locations of the Challenge included; The University of Southern Maine in Portland and Lewiston/Auburn, The University of New England in Biddeford, Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and The University of Maine in Orono and Presque Isle.

The Statewide Sponsor of the 2013 JA Titan Challenge was Travelers.

“Travelers is proud to have sponsored this year’s Titan Challenge and applauds Junior Achievement’s efforts to help our future leaders get the hands-on experience they need to compete in a global economy,” said Chris Hackworth, Director of Sales Northern New England for Travelers. “Congratulations to the winners and we commend all of the students for taking an active role in gaining a better understanding of how to operate a successful business.”

“There's never been a greater need for Junior Achievement's financial literacy programs than in today’s turbulent economic times," said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia. “We are so impressed with how effectively this Titan Challenge empowers high school students to use their skills and talents in a real world business environment.  And we are extremely thankful for the generous financial support that Travelers provided through their EducationAd to help fund the great work Junior Achievement of Maine is doing in classrooms teaching students the basics of finance and the free market system.  Travelers' volunteer mentors also played a key role today in the today's Challenge and we're very proud to be part of this public-private partnership with them in support of Junior Achievement of Maine."

Regional Sponsors included; Dead River Company & Bangor Hydro Electric Company, Technology Sponsors included; CIANBRO, Diversified Business Communications, IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Peoples United Bank, Pro Search, Inc., The Bank of Maine, and Time Warner Cable. Business Sponsors included; General Dynamics and Synernet, Inc., and our Mentor Sponsors included; Katahdin Trust, L.L.Bean, Maine Maritime Academy, Powers Roofing, SIGCO, Sprague Energy Corporation, and Systems Engineering. Thank you to all of our sponsors!

About JA

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. This year, JA of Maine will reach close to 10,000.

About Travelers

The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) is a leading provider of property casualty insurance for auto, home and business. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Travelers has more than 30,000 employees and generated revenues of approximately $26 billion in 2011. For more information, visit www.travelers.com

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002.  In 2008, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media.

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide.  In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change.  Please visit ecomedia.cbs.com to learn more.

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities.  EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.

If you are interested in more information, please contact Michelle Anderson, (207) 347-4333, Marketing & Program Director or visit our website at www.jamaine.org