Falcon business titans earn JA scholarships

Scholarship winner, JA president, JA staffer and scholarship winner stand with certificates

On Tuesday, two ÉðÊ¿Âþ»­ seniors each won a $1,000 scholarship from Junior Achievement of Northeastern New York.

Andrew Kirk and Mitchell Verner earned the John Tattersall Memorial JA Titan CEO Scholarship for essays they wrote on lessons they learned when taking part in the JA Titan competition in March.

Kirk and Verner participated in JA Titan as students in Christopher Austen’s college-level Business Concepts and Applications class, where they acted as CEOs of a fictitious phone company in a virtual competition.

There, they learned how to predict and identify various trade-offs based on business decisions; use a budget to monitor income, expenses, and other financial records; describe why research, development and marketing expenses are investments; and analyze how a company demonstrates corporate social responsibility.

They received their scholarship award certificates during their eighth-period Business Concepts class from Christine Horne, president of Junior Achievement of Northeastern New York. They were joined by Junior Achievement’s Joleen Hanlon, Andrew’s father Matthew and Mitchell’s mother Bernice VanZundt.

Kirk will attend Siena College and plans to study business. Verner will attend Hudson Valley Community College and is considering a business major, as well.

A total of three JA Titan scholarships were available to students from six area high schools. ÉðÊ¿Âþ»­ High students won two out of the three.

John Tattersall was CEO of Frank Murken Products at the time of his August 2021 death. He also was chairman of the board and a board member of Junior Achievement of Northeastern New York.