With an impressive award ceremony in the historic Benedictine Monastery of Catania, the Pan-European Apprenticeship and Student Entrepreneurship Final JA Europe/GEN-E 2024 concluded on Thursday, July 4, 2024. The “Let’s Go” team from the Special High School/High School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Thessaloniki who represented Greece, stole the show, received very positive comments from the audience and the jury and emerged Europe’s favorite student “start up”.winning the FedEx Public Choice Award 2024. The Greek team managed to gather the most votes from Greece and Europe at the Virtual Expo of Europe’s largest Student and Student Entrepreneurship Festival, GEN-E 2024 of Junior Achievement Europe.

With a mission to create a sustainable world of equality, inclusion and acceptance of diversity, ‘Let’s Go’ has thrilled Europe with her creations from used LEGO® bricks. At GEN-E2024 many attendees were impressed with the main product of the student ‘enterprise’, the board game TriGO which is designed for the visually impaired so that they can play on an equal footing with the sighted. TriGo and ‘Let’s Go’s’ gorgeous, colorful and imaginative jewelry and fashion accessories were loved and raved about.

The historic success of “Let’s Go”

By winning the Public Choice Award, “Let’s Go” marked a historic success for Greece as it is the first time that a Greek team manages to win this award, while it was also the first time that deaf students participated in the Pan-European Final of the “JA Company Program”. The joy of the children is also great for the fact that this year this award has a prize trip to Brussels so that the teenage “startups” can get to know the European institutions better.

The children and teachers of “Let’s Go” said: “We are excited about our participation and distinction in the Pan-European Final of Junior Achievement’s “Virtual Company – JA Company Program” because we have shown that we can compete and distinguish ourselves at a very high level, sending a resounding message of equality and inclusion. Many thanks to JA Greece, JA Europe and everyone who supported us on this wonderful journey. Our business activity continues! We invite you to visit our website to get to know us better and to buy our products: https://www.lets-go.gr. We are waiting for you!”.

The five students of “Let’s Go” who competed in Catania are: Christos Ganatsas – General Manager, Stavroula Dontsiou – Production Manager, Lefteris Koukoulis – Finance Manager, Nikos Tragiannopoulos – Sales Manager, Sotiria Beltsou – Human Resources Manager. It was also attended by the responsible teachers Kalliopi Sivri, Ioanna Fotiadou, Christina Papaevangelou and Olga Emmanuilidou as well as the sign language interpreter Sofia Tsereli.

THE Fotini Tourni, responsible for the global program “Virtual Business – JA Company Program” of JA Greece, said: “I am very happy because Greece shined once again this year. “Let’s Go” products were loved, sold and now they are also available in Europe! The team made the best impression and won the Audience Award! The children and teachers deserve many congratulations for all their progress so far and their distinction, they make us very proud! Bravo is a little!”.

Online GEN-E 2024 started on 22 May and culminated with the live events, jury evaluations and awards ceremony over the three days of 2-4 July 2024. GEN-E is organized by JA Europe with the participation of 41 European countries and every year it is hosted in a different country. This year Italy had its honor and JA Italia hosted the three-day events in the uniquely beautiful Benedictine Monastery of Catania, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest monastic complex in Europe. See all information about GEN-E 2024 at http://www.gen-e.eu.

GEN-E 2025 in Greece from July 1st to 3rd

In one year from today, Greece will have its Junior Achievement honor as the GEN-E 2025 Pan-European Competition will take place next summer in Athens from July 1st to 3rd. The official announcement was made in the context of the award ceremony in Catania by the Chairman of the Board Emilios Kyriakou and the General Manager of JA Greece, Argyris Tzikopoulos. When the video, created for the occasion by the JA Greece team, was shown, the participants in Catania burst into loud applause and shouts of excitement.

“It is with great joy and a great sense of responsibility that we officially receive the baton from JA Italia for GEN-E 2025, which will be hosted next summer in Athens by JA Greece. Huge congratulations to JA Italia and JA Europe for organizing this year’s competition and to all the children from the 41 innovative student ‘enterprises’ who took part. They impressed us with their innovations, pioneering entrepreneurial spirit and filled us with hope”said Emilios Kyriakou, Chairman of the Board of JA Greece – CEO & Banking Head of Citi Greece, Cyprus and Malta.

The unexpected of the GalaDinner – The eruption of Etna

The spectacular Gala Dinner at the Benedictine Monastery had the unexpected eruption of Etna and the ash that began to fall like black rain and within a short time covered the rotundas with the white tablecloths like black snow. Etna’s ash disrupted the flow of the evening, the awarding of prizes, the serving of food and the planning of the festivities. This development initially brought a little disturbance but in the end it was a unique experience that was unforgettable for everyone.

Three awards for Greece at GEN-E 2024

Greece walked away with three awards from GEN-E 2024 as in addition to “Let’s Go” competing, the Greek teams “School Buddy” and “Vefiber” were there and received their awards in other JA Europe competitions. “School Buddy” from Abdira High School/Lyceum of Xanthi and Feron Evros High School was distinguished in the Social Innovation Relay (SIR) Competition and “Vefiber” from the Experimental High School of the University of Macedonia at the Foodathon together with the student team from JA Ghana.

The first prize of JA Europe/GEN-E 2024 “JA Europe Company of the Year 2024” was won by the Virtual Company “Treberei” from Junior Achievement Austria. Last year and the year before, the winners were the Greek teams “Microgreens-Magicgreens” from the 2nd Experimental High School of Kilkis and “Isometricks” from the Experimental High School of the University of Macedonia who, representing Europe, also won the JA Worldwide World Award.