Junior Achievement USA Awards Top JA Student Company Honors at 2024 NSLS
June 13, 2024
Junior Achievement USA hosted its 2024 National Student Leadership Summit (NSLS) this week in Washington, D.C. Bringing together students from across the United States, the 2024 summit included the top 15 JA student companies from the JA Company Program and the top 10 JA Social Innovation Challenge teams.
Over three days, JA students engaged with innovation, business, and entrepreneurship experts and participated in professional development seminars from NSLS sponsors Chick-fil-A and Johnson & Johnson on Day 1, and Delta Air Lines and FedEx on Day 2. After lunch, students headed to Capitol Hill for the Entrepreneurship Expo, where they set up booths to showcase their businesses to judges, business leaders, and members and staff of the US Congress.
On Day 3, students presented their companies live on stage to a panel of judges, who also had an opportunity to ask questions based on each presentation. In the evening, students and mentors attended the awards ceremony to crown the JA Company of the Year and the JA Social Innovation of the Year, among other signature awards.
In addition to attending in person, supporters and friends could participate in NSLS from afar through a virtual platform and cheer on their favorite JA student companies and teams. The virtual booths include each JA student company’s company report and commercial, two important parts of the competition.
JA Company of the Year
The JA Company of the Year Competition is not simply a business competition for young people. Qualifying JA student companies successfully apply 21st-century skills, including creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, and demonstrate entrepreneurial thinking during each competition element. Students must balance business achievements with personal development. For a student company to win the top awards, it is not enough just to run a financially successful JA student company or to have created an exciting product or service. JA student company members also must demonstrate that they understand how and why the company performed as it did. Independent judges determine company performance against the competition criteria as compared with other JA student companies during each stage of the competition process to determine first, second, and third place honors.
Meet the JA Student Companies
California, JA of Northern California: Scribble Sprout sells a modern pencil package with sustainable pencils that transform into a variety of unique plants and a recycled paper notebook. The tip of the pencil contains seeds encased in a cellulose cap. When consumers are done using the pencil, they can plant it and grow a plant.
California, JA of San Diego County: Power Up Games sells “Workout Wars,” a fitness-based card game that combines entertainment, exercise, and strategy. The game features three different levels that cater to players of all fitness levels.
Florida, JA of Greater Miami: Vis-A-Vis coordinates a student-produced fashion show featuring a diverse array of curated fashion from 200 student designers, models, and crew members.
Florida, JA of South Florida: SugarWare aims to empower the world to adopt greener lifestyles using sustainable kitchenware products made from sugarcane plastic.
Maryland, JA of Central Maryland: Crochet in a Box encourages and nurture self-expression through its hand-made crocheted flower items. Sharing a collective love of flowers, they challenge you to beat allergies this season with your very own handmade selection of crochet flowers.
Maryland, JA of Central Maryland: Rise and Grind is a morning and afternoon coffee shop located within Oak Mills High School, providing students, teachers, and guests with the energy needed to start and get through their day. The shop serves coffee drinks, hot chocolate, and breakfast items, as well as pizza and drinks during lunchtime.
Massachusetts, JA of Greater Boston: Nature's Knitwear sells apparel with unique animal designs featuring three different endangered animals: red pandas, elephants, and hammerhead sharks. By scanning the sweatshirt's paw-shaped QR code, users can learn more about these endangered species and further contribute to Nature's Knitwear’s donations toward conservation efforts that directly impact these animals.
Minnesota, JA North: Relataspace aims to stifle the detrimental isolating effects of social media by strengthening connections and bonds through their original and innovative card game. The game is designed to inspire social connection and spark conversation using real-life, relatable scenarios.
Missouri, JA of Greater St. Louis: Creations for a Cause focuses on combining comfortable apparel with designs promoting awareness of health struggles. The company sells hoodies, crewnecks, t-shirts, and phone card holders with” designs that promote awareness of mental health, sarcoma, and breast cancer.
New York, JA of Central Upstate New York: InnoVision sells eco-friendly, sustainable, and desirable products—canvas totes bags and charcoal pouches—that promote meaningful innovation and community connection.
Ohio, JA of North Central Ohio: FlameGuard provides home fire safety and peace of mind through FlameGuard kits, which deliver essential, high-quality home fire safety tools at an affordable price.
Ohio, JA of North Central Ohio: Mission Monarch makes and sells milkweed seed bombs, which aim to help revive the monarch butterfly population and boost the local ecosystem. Milkweed is the monarch butterfly’s main source of food and the only thing they can lay eggs on.
Pennsylvania, JA of Southeastern Pennsylvania: EfficiKit helps people increase productivity through a suite of products. The hand-stained kit contains earplugs, a timer, reusable to-do list, peppermints, and student-produced book of activities to reduce stress and increase focus.
Texas, JA of Southeast Texas: EVO (Eklins Very Own) makes learning English at a young age both fun and accessible through EVOCab, a 72-card game. Each card contains a prompt that includes high-frequency English words a child must know.
Texas, JA of Southeast Texas: F.L.I.N. Company empowers individuals to make informed financial decisions and cultivate lifelong habits of financial literacy through the F.L.I.N. (Financial Literacy Interactive Notebook). Flin the Frog guides readers through their financial literacy journeys as they interactive tasks and incentives to transform difficult financial concepts into digestible ones.
JA Social Innovation Challenge
The JA Social Innovation Challenge competition gives JA teams the chance to showcase their innovative startup concepts designed to support their communities, society, or the environment as they compete for top national honors. Unlike the Company of the Year competition, students in the Social Innovation Challenge will have participated in JA Be Entrepreneurial or JA Entrepreneurial Mindset during the 2023–2024 school year.
Meet the Student Teams
Florida, JA of Greater Miami: BioBlend aims to reduce food waste and help fuel plant growth through the sale of its plant fertilizer made from compost.
Florida, JA of Greater Miami: Water Warriors is a game-based app that teaches children about the detrimental effects of ocean pollution and marine debris through actionable steps that help combat ocean pollution.
Florida, JA of the Space Coast: GellyBuddies seeks to eliminate the use of lead fishing weights worldwide through the GellyWeight, a dissolvable, reusable, and eco-friendly fishing weight.
Florida, JA of the Space Coast: Iskove offers the Slumber Pack, a comfortable and compact travel solution that combines sleeping bags with solar charging.
New York, JA of New York: Bamboo Dynasty offers UPF, odor-resistant, and eco-friendly athleticwear. With each purchase, consumers not only protect themselves from harmful UV rays but also combat deforestation.
New York, JA of New York: Intellect AI is an AI-powered tutoring program that creates study guides catered to an individual student based on preferred learning methods, materials needed to learn, and ability.
New York, JA of New York: Sign Lens allows deaf individuals better interact with and understand others by making translation more accessible and affordable
Texas, JA of Southeast Texas: Locked helps students mitigate procrastination through four key outlets: the task list, timer, music player, and study spot locator collectively provide the most efficient way to stop procrastination and manage life.
Texas, JA of Southeast Texas: Pitch sells a self-defense device made of 3D-printed PLA plastic. Pitch hopes to create a world in which women's safety is not assumed, it is activated.
Texas, JA of Southeast Texas: Type-Along unlocks the reader in every child by honing fundamental reading skills through phonics, spelling, and typing.
The Awards
Social Innovation Challenge Awards
The inaugural Johnson & Johnson STEM Innovation Award recognizes the JA social innovation that best demonstrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) applications aimed at creating positive community impact.
Winner: Intellect
Third place: Iskove
Second place: Locked
First place: Type-Along
JA Company of the Year Awards
The Delta Social Impact Award recognizes the JA student company that creates the best solution to address a local, national, or global social concern.
Winner: F.L.I.N. Company (visit F.L.I.N. on Instagram: @flincompany)
The FedEx Global Possibilities Award honors the student company that best exhibits the principles of global connectivity, including the value of free enterprise, global trade, connecting to new markets, and sustainability. This year, FedEx will sponsor the Global Possibilities Award in all six JA regions.
Winner: SugarWare (visit SugarWare on Instagram: @sugarware_co)
The Jim Sweeny Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence awards one student a US$2,000 for entrepreneurial excellence. This year’s winner, Zea Khoja, CEO of F.L.I.N. Company, participated in the JA Company Program during all four years of her high school experience.
The ICE Best Financial Performance Award recognizes the JA Company that best encompasses several aspects of financial responsibility.
Winner: SugarWare
In addition to the award, the top three JA student companies receive financial scholarships courtesy of the Achievement Foundation.
Third place (US$1,000 scholarship): Mission Monarch, Hoover High School, North Canton, Ohio (visit Mission Monarch on Instagram: @missionmonarchja)
Second place (US$1,500 scholarship): EVO, Elkins High School, Missouri City, Texas (visit EVO on Instagram: @theevoteam)
First place, JA USA Company of the Year (US$3,000 scholarship): FlameGuard, Jack High School, Stark County, Ohio (visit FlameGuard on Instagram: @flameguard.us)
As Junior Achievement USA Company of the Year, FlameGuard will join JA Asia Pacific champion O’BGE to compete for the 2025 De La Vega Global Entrepreneurship Award with four other regional champions (Africa, Americas, Europe, and MENA) that will be named later this year.