Help­ing Shape Young Futures Through Junior Achievement 

In 1977, Vic (now an Assurity associate), was a senior at Lincoln Northeast, when he heard about a program called Junior Achievement (JA). It met weekly in the evenings and taught students lessons in business and financial literacy.

He signed up and enjoyed the world this program opened to him, as he and his classmates gathered in a manufacturing building in north Lincoln, building and operating a business selling backgammon boards and learning all a business entails.

At the time, Woodmen Accident and Life (Assurity’s predecessor company) was a program sponsor, helping with anything from manufacturing to payroll. Vic got to know the program advisors, including Woodmen’s Human Resources Director. He could not have predicted the path Junior Achievement would put before him. Later, when Vic was earning his MBA at The University of Chicago, he spied an ad for a Woodmen job opening tacked on a campus bulletin board. Vic landed the job as a junior securities analyst.

Today, he is in his 39^th year with Assurity, serving as Senior Director of Investments.

Assurity’s long commitment to Junior Achievement means something to him. “(JA) has a real purpose. Having Assurity be involved in teaching financial literacy to kids is important. I’m glad we do it.”

Junior Achievement volunteers now take its curriculum directly to K-12 classrooms, teaching students knowledge and skills related to financial literacy, work and career readiness, entrepreneurship and smart economic and academic choices.

Assurity supports Junior Achievement of Lincoln through volunteer power, mentorship, board leadership and financial support for its Stock Market Challenge, Hall of Fame Dinner & Auction and General Fund. “Assurity's unwavering support has been a cornerstone in advancing Junior Achievement's mission to empower young people with the skills and knowledge needed for their future success,” said Kennedy Lech, Director of Programs and experiences with Junior Achievement of Lincoln.

Since 2015, Assurity associates have taught in more than 55 JA classrooms and participated in multiple student events, she noted, giving over 300 hours of their time and impacting 2,000+ Lincoln students.

Casey, a capital market analyst at Assurity, taught JA curriculum for the first time last year, after volunteering with its Stock Market Challenge in the past. For five Fridays, he spent 45 minutes in a second-grade classroom at Lincoln’s Elliott Elementary.

It’s easy, engaging and fulfilling, he said. One of the first provided lessons he shared used colorful, caricature-like maps to bring the concept of community to life. From fire halls to hospitals, the second graders learned about the flow of the economy in a community and the services, jobs and roles that connect it. Another lesson put the students in the role of pizza shop business owners, with simulated orders, toy money and wages to be used in the class gift shop, and even rising prices.

Once Casey started, he looked forward to his Friday interludes in the elementary classroom. “It was really fun. It connected me to the community a little more and gave me a glimpse into the school system,” Casey said.

The experience became something bigger and more rewarding than he expected -- in a good way, he said. The students surprised him with heartfelt thank you cards and even a letter from a student who wrote that she was sorry to miss his visit while on vacation.

His JA class time ended with a surprise connection to another volunteer role. When Casey begins the TeamMates mentoring program in the fall, his mentee will be one of the students he came to know in the Elliott classroom.

The program always has openings and a need for more volunteers, noted Megan, Assurity’s Inforce Technical Analyst II, who coordinates Assurity’s JA volunteers. “There are a lot of classrooms that need to be filled…I think many people are scared of it, but it’s easy with the provided curriculum and the kids are so excited you are there. Plus, the teachers are there to help.”

She is a longtime volunteer herself, going back to the time when JA was taught as an evening program. She taught high schoolers, helping them create and learn the ins and outs of a business – such as making blankets to sell – taking it from plan to product to dissolution. The students even paid back a real start-up business loan as part of the program.

She noticed how the lessons sparked interest in possible future careers.

“It really teaches (students) a lot about entrepreneurship, the business economy, workplace readiness - things that might not be covered in a regular classroom,” she said.

Vic may be Assurity’s longest JA volunteer. He is a longtime member of the Lincoln chapter’s Board of Directors and has taught its curriculum in elementary, middle, and high schools, sharing lessons on stocks, economic sectors, property, the role of laws and regulations and more.

“It’s always interesting when you see the lightbulb come on and the students really understand something they may not have considered before,” Vic said. He plans to add a new milestone to his time with Junior Achievment. “Now that I have grandkids in LPS, I’m planning to (teach) in their classes. I think that will be neat.”