Ms. Medina Willis’ class
“The team had such a great time volunteering in Mrs. Willi’s Entrepreneurial class. The students have enjoyed each presenter’s subject matter and were engaged and asked great questions.” ~ Danette Castaneda, Encore Bank
Encore Bank is a great example of a team working together to deliver JA Company Program®.
See program recap by Encore Bank team lead, Danette Castaneda
Encore team member, Doug LeBlanc, Senior Vice President at Encore Bank, kicked off the program with the Meeting One: Start a Business. Doug went through each section of the lesson and had the students do the ME, MY & Company Structure activity. Doug set the bar high for the rest of the team. By the end of the class, he had peaked the student’s interest with his life story of living in a submarine for a year and how he’s helped businesses owners becoming millionaires several times over through entrepreneurship.
Doug came back for Meeting Two: Brainstorming a Business Idea. He again went through the required sections and had the students brainstorm different games they could make out of cardboard boxes for their fall festival.
Team members, James Klingman, Executive Vice President & Austin Market President at Encore Bank, and Megan McKissick, Vice President-Executive Admin & Commercial Loan Specialist at Encore Bank, led Meeting Three: Evaluate the Options. James came in with a speaker and got the students fired up for the day. They did a phenomenal job sharing their background story and tied it right intro the Characteristics of the Entrepreneur Mindset and SWOT Analysis activity.
After speaking with Mrs. Willis, we decided to jump right into Meeting Five. Kam Looney, Vice President at Encore Bank, Georgina Del Toro, VP, Executive and Commercial Loan Assistant at Encore Bank, and Erin Melton, Chief of Staff to the Chief Innovation Officer at Encore Bank, led Meeting Five: Launch the Business. They knocked it out of the park with their presentation on What kind of Leader are you, Business Snapshot, and Company Charter. We invited my client Dr. Janrai to share his entrepreneurial journey and how I/We have helped him from the very beginning when he was looking for his first office space, to now helping him expand to a second location. Dr. J was a professional soccer player in Brazil and did a phenomenal job connecting the lessons he learned through sports and being a good leader on the field to translating them into skills that were instrumental in running a successful business. Kam, Erin, and Georgina also did a great job of sharing what made them good leaders, how it has led them to their current roles, and the importance of having a business plan and company charter. The students did the snapshot and Company Charter activity. We all went around and asked what business they wanted to form. There are budding Fashion Designers, Coffee Shop Owners, Clothing Boutique Owners, Marketing Firm Owners, and a Motivational Speaker in the class.
The students all said they looked forward to us visiting them throughout the semester. Thank you again for the opportunity to engage with such an amazing group of students. I’m excited to see work with them again in the springtime.
