Building tomorrow's business leaders.

• Author: Ess, Charlie
• Position: Junior Achievement Program

Junior Achievement teaches students across the state how to compete and thrive in a free-market economy.

Supply, demand, revenues and market share - terms you might expect to hear closer to Wall Street - emanate from students at Palmer's Colony High School as part of Chuck Martin's class in applied economics.

But there's more than economic theory tossed about in this room as Martin and his 28 students warm to the day at 7:30 a.m. If it sounds like these kids want to be here, they chose to be, and if the small talk runs more akin to board meeting preamble than high school banter, it's because this class is a corporation, complete with the infrastructure to hire and fire employees or reprimand officers for being late for york (class).

Martin's students represent a handful of the 15,000 students in grades K through 12 around the state who've joined up with Junior Achievement of Alaska, a non-profit corporation, that aims to foster talents in young investors, entrepreneurs. Like its mission statement says, "JA inspires young people to value free enterprise, understand business and economics and be work force ready."

This is JA's fourth year at Colony, and the program provides the class with textbooks, computer software and all the tools for a hands-on approach to economics. "It's an easy program to run," says Martin. It doesn't hurt, either, that Carol Ward-Akerson visits the class on Fridays to explain insurance and investment strategies. A senior account executive for Waddell and Reed Financial Services, Ward-Akerson also serves as a Junior Achievement advisor.

By Thanksgiving, the students had elected officers, brainstormed an idea, conducted market research and were diving headlong into a personalized picture button campaign in time for basketball tournaments in December and early January. The class elected Maggie Mahoney as corporation president and three other students as vice presidents: Dennis Black, finance; Dave Hassinger, marketing; and Nathan "Utah" Dahl, production. Mahoney also appointed a friend, Marya Milton, as vice president of human resources.

As for this year's business, Destiny Wesson dreamed up the idea of selling personalized picture buttons. "It just came upon me," says Wesson modestly.

To finance such dreams, students issue stocks to themselves and sometimes to investors outside the classroom (Martin holds 10 shares). This raises capital to lease cameras, a button-making machine from neighboring Colony Middle School and...