NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nissan North America, Inc., has supported Junior Achievement (JA) of Middle Tennessee for nearly 10 years, but this is their second year as their Awareness Breakfast title sponsor at Nissan Stadium on August 5, 2016.

The Awareness Breakfast provides Junior Achievement an opportunity to feature some of their students that have experienced the 18 programs, tell organizations, employees and interested parties who they are, what they do and the impact they make in our community, and educates them on how they can get involved with Junior Achievement.  The event gives their board members and their respective companies (such as Nissan) an opportunity to share their Junior Achievement story with fellow co-workers and encourage them to get involved in giving hope to youth.

"Nissan is the sponsor today for the Junior Achievement Awareness Breakfast and this is really an opportunity for people in the community to get to know JA and the different opportunities that they offer students here is middle Tennessee," said Robyn Williams, Nissan's senior manager, business transformation. "Nissan has been involved with JA for the past 10 years or so in varying levels.  We send volunteers, and we sponsor events like this, so it really runs the gamut from our employees' sponsoring and supporting Junior Achievement."

James Story, who has been involved with JA for more than 5 years, served as this year's event chair, warmly welcomed everyone and introduced emcee, Brianne Cummins, an impressive 6th grader at CPA in Nashville and former JA BizTown participant.  "JA does a phenomenal job in helping to provide foundations for these kids, helping them understand how to connect the classroom learnings with future work opportunities."

Tracy Kornet, WSMV Ch. 4 news anchor, hosted a Q&A panel featuring JA volunteer, Steve Illgen and JA students from the JA Company Program, JA STEM Summit, and JA Biztown.  Illgen was recognized as the 2015-2016 JA Volunteer of the Year and presented a plaque for his exceptional efforts in encouraging the students to believe in themselves and realize their full potential.

Dr. Shawn Joseph, MNPS Director spoke of his vision and hopes of the importance in community support, both as an individual and as a company, as it relates to the success of our youth.  "Of all the partnerships I have participated, in the various school districts that I have been in, I think JA has one of the most impactful.  They really help children redefine their definitions of reality by teaching financial literacy skills and equipping them to actually function in our society.  Right now they are in 63 metro Nashville public schools and I hope we can get them in all of our schools."

"It's all about expanding our reach, going deeper and helping more kids," said Trent Klingensmith, Junior Achievement President.  "The key for the success of Nashville, the success of our community and the success of our kids is to help connect that education piece so they understand that in life, they can be whatever they want to be."

Junior Achievement is solely dedicated to preparing youth to lead healthy financial lives.  Their volunteers engage, equip and inspire through financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship programs.  They reach 31,000 K-12 students in Middle Tennessee on an annual basis. 

The breakfast concluded with a fun behind-the-scenes tour of Nissan Stadium where the guests had the opportunity to view areas that are not seen on game day such as the Titans home locker room, studio and press level.  

It is through events like the Awareness Breakfast that help build on current relationships and cultivate new in an effort to work together as a community so that we can build the foundation for our youth's future. 

Junior Achievement's staff and volunteers work hard to give young people the hope and skills to succeed in work and life… because their future… is our future.

About Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee:Locally, Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee, a franchise of Junior Achievement USA, provides in-school and after-school programs for students which focus on three key content areas: work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Through a dedicated volunteer network, Junior Achievement offers classroom-based programs, JA BizTown, JA Job Shadow, and the JA Company Program to students in Kindergarten through high school. Founded in Middle Tennessee in 1957, Junior Achievement now operates in 18 counties in the region, reaching over 31,000 students annually in over 2,000 classrooms throughout Middle Tennessee. For more information, visit www.janash.com.