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| Pirates Managing Owner/CEO Brian Petrovek makes the check presentation on behalf of UNUM and JA |
Portland, Maine - On, Wednesday, June 10th the Portland Pirates and Unum made another contribution to the Casco Bay High School to celebrate the work of the students in Junior Achievement's "Company Program" this past season. The Pirates and Unum presented a check and awarded the school with a brand new personal computer to support the school's technology needs.
For the past four years the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League and Junior Achievement of Maine have worked with the Casco Bay High School to provide students with an opportunity to plan and present one of the Pirates 40 home games through Junior Achievement's Company Program, which was developed to help students appreciate and better understand the role of business in our community.
This past season, through ticket sales and sponsorships, the students raised over $3,000 for the school's library and technology needs. For the second year in a row, Unum continued their support of the educational program with a sponsorship of $2,500 In addition to the unique educational opportunity for the students, Pirates and Junior Achievement have raised over $18,000 over the past four years.
"This experience has helped me to have a better understanding of how a business works. My classmates and I were fortunate to be a part of the Pirates organization this past season. The lessons I have acquired from this experience will benefit me throughout my life. As President of the company, I had to keep each group on task and keep the morale high during these tough economic times. However, through this experience, I have learned about real life experiences and I have become a better leader," said President of Pirates Productions Inc. and Casco Bay High School Junior, Bawadden Sayed.
This season, a total of 16 students had the opportunity to create their own company, Pirates Productions Inc.
The freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students worked in five teams along with the Pirates front office staff and learned about roles and responsibilities inside the Pirates organization. The participating students are listed below.
Marcy Angelo
Brooks Berueffy
Chris Bonds
Gilbert Brown
Alex Burr
Dan Dorfman
Kiersten McDonald
Alex Eye
Deseare Fortin
Adam James
Aly Leighton
Nancy Hagstrom – Teacher
Bawadden Sayed
Zach Shirland
Jackson Stevens
Dylan Ramsey
Grace Richards
Each student worked with a member of the Pirates staff to create operating plans in ticket sales, marketing, communications, event presentation and finance/administration for the presentation of the Pirates game on January 23, 2009. On the day of the game, students were involved in all aspects of the game from running contests to broadcasting the game on the radio. The Junior Achievement Company Program and the Portland Pirates selected the Casco Bay High School for the fourth year in a row largely due to the school's rigorous curriculum, designed as a model for comprehensive school reform with an emphasis on high achievement through active learning, character growth, and teamwork. This year, the program was presented by Unum and the game was also supported by American Field Services.
"We are very proud of the students at the Casco Bay High School and salute their hard work and terrific results. We look to build on our success from these past four years and make this into a national model," said Pirates Managing Owner/CEO Brian Petrovek.
Junior Achievement of Maine Inc., is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), with a mission to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business and economics in order to improve the quality of their lives.
This past week, the American Hockey League announced that league and its 29 member clubs raised a total of $2.38 million over the course of the 2008-09 season. The funds were raised through donations to various charitable causes and relief funds across North America.
