Student-led company Sweet Cham at JA COY tradeshow

Apr 30, 2025 (San Diego, CA) — Dozens of student-led companies shared their business solutions and entrepreneurial journeys at the annual JA Company of the Year Competition, held by Junior Achievement of San Diego County (JA San Diego). Over the last several months, students have conceptualized and developed business ventures that aim to address an issue facing their community, while gaining hands-on experience in the entrepreneurial process.

“In my future, I really hope to be a small business owner,” said Sabine C., Canyon Crest Academy student and CEO of Oatley, an overnight oats DIY kit company. “This experience has been amazing. I’ve really learned how to build my confidence and pitch myself to so many people, whether it’s classmates, a teacher, or judges from different companies.”

With two-thirds of young people interested in starting their own business, this program introduces young people to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and shows them how they can turn a business idea into a profitable business venture. The skills students develop from building their own businesses fuel their early career journeys and support students’ long-term success in any career field.

“The major I’ve declared is psychology, and I want to make an impact by helping others. I hope that I take lessons learned from working in a team, taking feedback, and working with other people to better myself and better understand situations or individuals,” said Daniel P., a student from e3 Civic High.

Nearly 800 students across the San Diego region engaged in the JA curriculum with 125 students representing Canyon Crest Academy, e3 Civic High, Torrey Pines High, Oceanside High, Chula Vista Learning Community Charter, and CETYS participating in JA COY. The top teams at the JA San Diego Company of the Year Competition will be nominated to compete in the national JA USA Future Bound summit held at Georgia State University in June.

The following teams were awarded at the 2025 JA COY:

JA Company of the Year

• 1^st Place – Oatley (Canyon Crest Academy): Oatley offers overnight oat kits to provide an easy and healthy breakfast for people on the go.
• 2^nd Place – Sweet & Simple (Torrey Pines High): Sweet & Simple offers ready-to-bake cookie and cake boxes.

JA Social Innovation Challenge

• 1^st Place – Eco-Track (Chula Vista Learning Community Charter): Eco-Track is an app that allows users to track their carbon footprint.

Social Impact Tradeshow Award

• Simply Sprouted (Torrey Pines High): Simply Sprouted offers DIY herb growing kits for beginners.

JA Innovation Tradeshow Award

• Wave and Glow (CETYS): Wave and Glow offers ethically sourced seashell candles.

JA COY was made possible with the support of Comerica Bank, Fitzpatrick Family Foundation, PenChecks, and UC San Diego Park & Market.

Students participating in JA Stock Market Challenge

Mar 12, 2024 (San Diego, CA) — Students experienced trading on the New York Stock Exchange through a stock market simulation competition hosted by Junior Achievement of San Diego County (JA San Diego). Presented by Mission Federal Credit Union, the 2025 JA Stock Market Challenge brought nearly 150 students from across the San Diego region to compete in building mock portfolios over a simulated 60-day trading period in the market.To prepare for the event, over 400 students participated in JA curriculum that teaches the fundamentals of the stock market and how to develop long-term investing strategies.

“My students were interested in learning about investing. Money is motivating, so they wanted to learn more about the stock market and how it works and how it could benefit them in the future,” said Breanne Ulloa, educator at King Chavez Community High School. “Once they started playing the simulation, they really got excited about how it works. They’re having fun and it’s real world.”

The experience aims to demystify the stock market by providing young people an opportunity to learn how to invest in a risk-free learning environment that prepares them to manage their personal finances as they enter adulthood. Through hands-on practice, young people become more familiar and confident in developing investing strategies and navigating the stock market.“This will help us like learn how to save, how to plan, and help us try to invest in stocks. This will help us like in the long run in how to finance our stuff better,” said Kirenia H., a junior at Hoover High.

Now equipped with the tools and knowledge on various financial vehicles and ways to grow wealth, students have begun to consider ways they can plan for their financial futures.

“I’ve already had some senior students talking about opening a CD. They want to put aside dollars that they know that they can not touch. They want to put that into an account so that it can start to earn them more money,” said Ulloa.

This year’s JA Stock Market Challenge champions were from CETYS in Tijuana, Mexico and O’Farrell Charter School secured second place.

About Junior Achievement of San Diego
Junior Achievement of San Diego (JA) has been inspiring and equipping San Diego youth to achieve economic success by planning for their futures and making informed academic and career choices since 1950. By deploying proven, experiential programs like BizTown program, JA also reaches more than 30,000 students annually through programs such as BizTown, Finance Park, and the JA Company program which help students build financial literacy, work-readiness, and entrepreneurship skills. Annually, more than 4,000 volunteers serve as role models and enable JA to deliver experiential programs to students in 42 county school districts.