Student Spotlight: JA in Saskatchewan

Jenna Knupp JA Canada

Tell us about your JA company and your role within the company?

My name is Jenna Knupp, and I was a co-president for Sweets & Treats Co, for the junior achievement program at Weyburn Comprehensive School. Sweets & Treats Co was a retail food company that focused on selling a variety of treats including chocolate covered pretzels in two flavors white and milk chocolate, Christmas crunch which was a chocolate covered popcorn snack mix, fudge pops in two flavors maple and chocolate and fudge in two main flavors maple and chocolate. Fudge was our main focus, so as well in January we did a specialty fudge promotion that included six new flavors of fudge Orange Chocolate Swirl, Mint Chocolate Swirl, Vanilla, Vanilla M&M, Chocolate Chip Swirl and our fan favorite Cookies & Cream. Our company was extremely successful, bringing in $18,135.69 in sales with $12,500.00 in profit. Myself alone I brought in $3,794.20 in sales, which represented 24.5% of the company’s total revenue.

Our company was proud to donate $1,389.20 to the Andon Hoff Memorial fund as a way to give back to our community. Our company was very successful, and I am so proud of all we accomplished. Since my JA experience has come to an end, I decided to use all the skills I learned to start my own business.

My fudge company is called “Jenna’s Sweet Shop” and hope to expand my fudge flavor pallet and market my product in memory of my grandma who was also a fudge entrepreneur.

What did you learn by participating in the JA Company Program?

Junior Achievement taught me so many valuable lessons that I will take with into my post-secondary education and my future career. I was constantly being asked questions and being asked to come up with solutions to any problems that came to the surface. I would evaluate situations and resolve conflict between my peers on a daily basis. I also learned how different personalities mix together to create a team. Everyone has value and needs to be treated with respect. Each person brings something different to the table, some personalities might be more outgoing and energetic, while others might be more calm and thoughtful. When you combine all of the different aspects you can create a well-rounded team that can tackle any challenge thrown their way.

No matter how stressful the situation was or how overwhelmed I felt I made sure to have constant resilience and to always bring a positive attitude to class each day. I was nominated for salesperson of the year, achiever of the year and president of the year by my peers. This experience has put me in a real workplace environment and showed me that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could. Alongside junior achievement, I also played on the school basketball team. Maintaining my grades was especially important to me, so I had to be mindful of how I used my time. I worked hard to create a balance between academics, sports, and my leadership role. Which is a skill I am thankful to have learned from junior achievement.

Would you recommend this program to other students?

Junior achievement is a wonderful program that helps young adults start early in the business world. If you are interested in anything business or entrepreneurship related the JA program is the perfect class to take. JA didn’t only give me new knowledge in business but also left me with new lifelong friends. I would recommend the JA program to all other students as it doesn’t only give you business knowledge but also new skillsets like teamwork, multitasking, communication and critical thinking. All these skills can be used in any job, not only business-related jobs, so I recommend everyone take part in the Junior achievement program.