Junior Achievement honors 3, touts new program

Donald T. Jack Jr. (shown left with Kimberly Marchant, Clarice Miller, and Peter and Liz Banko at the 2014 Arkansan of the Year gala honoring Rush Harding at the Statehouse Convention Center)  is senior and founding partner, president and treasurer of Jack Nelson Jones & Bryant PA in Little Rock.
Donald T. Jack Jr. (shown left with Kimberly Marchant, Clarice Miller, and Peter and Liz Banko at the 2014 Arkansan of the Year gala honoring Rush Harding at the Statehouse Convention Center) is senior and founding partner, president and treasurer of Jack Nelson Jones & Bryant PA in Little Rock.

Junior Achievement of Arkansas, a nonprofit organization geared toward helping children and teens establish an economic mindset, honored two supporters and volunteers -- Donald T. Jack Jr. and Sherman Tate -- at a luncheon at the Doubletree Hotel in Little Rock on Thursday.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sherman Tate (shown right with Gov. Asa Hutchinson at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony) is president and CEO of Tate and Associates Management.

Southwestern Energy Co. received the group's Summit Award for the utility's continued participation in Junior Achievement programs. Employees of Southwestern Energy logged nearly 1,000 volunteer hours at eight different schools this school year, said 2015 Legacy Award Luncheon Chairman Phillip Jett, president of the central Arkansas market for Iberiabank. Junior Achievement reaches an average of 14,000 students each year, he said.

The event also was an opportunity to get the word out about a new program, the Spark youth entrepreneur development program, which will pair mentors in the business community with 20-25 high school students to teach the students how to jointly develop and operate a fully functioning business. Junior Achievement is now recruiting potential participants, as well as volunteers to guide and encourage them. The program is set to start in October.

"At the end, we're going to give them an opportunity to 'shark tank' their own business ideas and then staff and run their own businesses," said Rhea Fix, a member of the Junior Achievement Central Region board of directors and workforce development co-chairman. Shark Tank is an ABC network reality show showcasing entrepreneurial skills. Spark mentors will teach the students how to choose their own leadership, raise capital and set production and sales strategies.

Fix said Spark embodies aspects of the decades-old Junior Achievement Company Program, which provides basic economic education to operate an actual business. Spark takes it a step further. The students will submit business plans for their companies to compete for funding from the city of Little Rock in summer 2016. The new business will recruit and staff itself from student interns participating in the city's Summer Jobs Alliance program.

"They're going to learn how to launch that company and then actually do it," she said.

Jack, a lawyer, is senior and founding partner, president and treasurer of Jack Nelson Jones & Bryant PA in Little Rock. He has donated his professional services to the organization since it was founded 28 years ago, including filing the group's charter and bylaws.

Tate, president and CEO of Tate and Associates Management, served as Junior Achievement's second board chairman and has continued to advocate for the organization in the years since.

He said Junior Achievement recognizes an essential aspect of children's lives: "Children don't necessarily care how much you know, but they always know how much you care.

"When you display and exhibit and, indeed, employ those giving and caring skills, which Junior Achievement does, then you get change, you get positive change," Tate said. "It takes these young folks and it molds them, it acquaints them, and it equips them to become successful in this increasingly global economy."

Both men were introduced by a mutual friend, Sheffield Nelson, a law partner to Jack.

The presentation ended with some seeds of wisdom from some young, but outspoken, Junior Achievement students. Their words echoed the sentiments of Junior Achievement, which is to foster young people as future leaders and consumers in the community. As one second-grader, Ashtyn Maxwell, put it: "If you think you made it here by yourself, then you're in for a rude awakening."

Jett, the event chairman, said he expected proceeds from the luncheon to top $90,000.

Business on 05/01/2015

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