By Joseph Bell

Record Staff Writer

The Junior Achievement program, a non-profit organization created to teach the county's youth to value free enterprise, business and economics, while also improving the quality of life in Elk County, is facing a changing of the guard.
According to board member Blythe Brunner, the program is going through board turnover and its leaders are now actively seeking community leaders to contribute.
"Right now, the board is struggling with people leaving because it's a huge task," Brunner said. "We need doers right now, we need people who will be able to take a piece of the big chunk and be able to do their small piece.
"We're finding that if we find the leaders who will make a difference in the lives of our Elk County students, this is a great place to start."
In the past, the board has consisted of only one or two individuals which, according to Brunner, is not necessarily a bad thing.
"That's not a bad thing if everything gets done and if everything goes the way it should go," Brunner said. "My concern is that we need to be very active when it comes to inclusion for this board because we need community leaders on the board."
To date, Brunner is currently weighing the pros and cons associated with the creation of a board consisting of 10-15 members.
"I'm in charge of volunteer classes through the spring and maybe another is in charge of volunteer classes in the fall, others can be in charge of maybe particular fundraisers that we'd have," Brunner said. "Right now, just one person or two people are in charge of that, not that we mind, but it's getting to the point where we really need to expand.
"We know that we have the help out there, so we're seeking some board involvement as well as volunteers in the classroom."
The board, which is nearing its reorganization, meets once a month but currently has no specific date or consistent time to convene.
The Junior Achievement program consists of volunteers who go into the school district and teach what is usually a six-week course with 45-minute classes.
"The Junior Achievement program, we're actually going into the school district as volunteers and teaching what could be taught by a teacher but we know that with this day and age, the guidance counselors, teachers and principals, they have so much on their plates to teach," Brunner said. "Some of the programs are six-week programs, one hour a week, some are seven weeks, it actually just depends on the curriculum that would be taught to that grade.
"In our spring classes which will be coming up in January, February, March, depending on what that contact is with the school, we have Johnsonburg Elementary, and it was their first year last year."
Johnsonburg Area Elementary School's third and fourth grade classes participated in the program last year and, according to Brunner, officials from the Ridgway Area School District have expressed interest in joining as well.
According to one volunteer, Peggy Aharrah, who also serves as chief clerk for Elk County, the students illustrate a persistent eagerness to learn.
"The students were just like sponges, they just soaked up everything that was presented to them," Aharrah said. "When I took on teaching one of the classes at first, I was a little leary about going in.
"I'm not a teacher but the manual that the Junior Achievement program provides you instructs you for every class so you know what materials you're going to present. The students are just very excited about you coming in and in fact, on the very last day, they were disappointed that we would not be coming back. I'm looking forward to teaching another class this coming fall and a number of county employees gave up their time and taught, it just really is rewarding."
Elk County commissioner Daniel R. Freeburg has also volunteered his free time in the past to assist with the program.
"When I did it, it was a few weeks, maybe six weeks, an hour or so class, 45 minutes," Freeburg said. "It wasn't too bad, it was great and so rewarding."