OREANDA-NEWS. October 1, 2012. GE Capital Retail Bank employees in Canton are working with Junior Achievement of East Central Ohio to present a JA Personal Finance/Career Day to over 1,000 area high school students. GE employees will help impact educational learning, youth development and economic vitality by educating students about life lessons in money management and work readiness skills. JA Personal Finance Day focuses resources to help area districts meet an unfunded Ohio state mandate that requires area schools to teach students financial literacy skills such as budgeting, savings, credit, insurance risk, identity theft, fraud and the overall role they play in the economic system.

To further enhance this experience, Walsh University of Canton, has joined GE and JA to host the event onsite at their campus. This affords the project planning team the convenience of bringing a large number of students together from various high schools into one, central location.

Five core financial education classes, a career fair and interview readiness class will be taught by GE employees. This enhances the program as GE employees can share real world experience in finance, retail banking and collections.

“GE knows that our investment in Junior Achievement is helping prepare young people to be educated consumers and make smart choices about their future. Our employees are really proud of their roles as volunteers, delivering the JA curriculum and sharing their experiences with the students as they take on new roles as consumers, employees and employers within our community,” said Kathy Stanton, GE Capital Retail Bank Site Leader.

GE Capital Retail Bank employee Gary Schumacher, a 23-year Board Member of Junior Achievement, is spearheading the project. Gary added, “It is also extremely gratifying to work with the students and to help them prepare to be educated consumers, especially when they start to evaluate specific financing or financial options.”

“The mission of Junior Achievement is to empower young people to own their economic success,” said Dawn L. Campanelli, President of JA of East Central Ohio. “We are very appreciative that GE believes in the power of financial literacy education as an impact tool to elevate the quality of life for the next generation.”