JSA – Junior State of America

As you know, the U.S. Census forms the basis for many important political, economic and social decisions that affect our daily lives. Census data is used to determine how and where to direct programs and services.

You can help JSA by participating in the 2013 JSA Student Census. Your answers to this short survey will help shape next year’s programs. We will also share the data with our sponsors to help get more funding for JSA.

As an added bonus, if you complete the survey by Friday, June 14th, you will be entered in a drawing for an iPad Mini! At the end of the survey, simply enter your summer contact information, and we will contact you at the end of June if you are the winner. The winner will also be announced on the JSA facebook page.

The message on her fundraising page couldn’t be clearer: “THANK YOU SO MUCH! I AM GOING TO PRINCETON!” In just 7 days, Jazmin Vergara managed to raise nearly $3,500 to attend the JSA Summer School program at Princeton University.

After completing the JSA Fundraising Academy webinar, Jazmin got right to work. “I first began the fundraising challenge through my school since I had talked to teachers about the program. For the first three days a great majority of the teachers had helped me gain more donations for me by putting the link on their Facebook or Twitter. From there, I realized I can’t just rely on my school… So, I went ahead and sent e-mails to my local mayor, the city council, the board of education, and others,“ she says.

She also faced some struggles. A week after starting her campaign, no one had donated to her. So she decided to, in her words, “kick it up.” “I started going face-to-face to local businesses and telling them my story of how I found this program and how much it means it to me to be able to go and gave them the link [to my fundraising page]. Then, I decided to e-mail the local news outlet… and they responded gleefully and got a story about me out in one night. I also had the help of one of the Board of Education members who I had sent an e-mail to and had sent a new personal referral to about fifty of his friends in the community”

Her increased efforts paid off: “With the press, the city, and my family coming together I felt as if the link to my page was on a billboard! Within about the whole school day I had checked my e-mail and the donations just kept coming. By the end of the day at three o’clock, I got the e-mail saying that I had met what I needed. “

Jazmin also has some advice for other students looking to raise the money for summer school: “Do not be afraid to e-mail anyone and everyone. The more you get your name out there, the more people will want to become invested in you. Brag about yourself!“

JSA Fundraising Academies, which can help students learn how to put together a successful campaign to raise the funds need for summer school, as Jazmin did, are held on Tuesday (7pm ET) and Wednesday (6pm PT) evenings each week through May. To sign up, send an email to FundraisingAcademy@jsa.org with your name and which day you would like to attend Fundraising Academy.

To start your own fundraising page, go to www.jsa.org/summerfundraising

The Junior State of America (JSA) held its annual Winter Congress conventions in Washington, DC during the weekends of February 8-10, 15-17 and 22-24. During these civic education simulations, over 2,200 student delegates played the part of representatives and senators, debating bills that were written and submitted by their peers. The students who participated gained a greater understanding of legislative procedure as well as sharpened their debate skills, and learned more about the issues that concern them. Read the full story

By: Mari Galicer

As tourists and Sacramento residents alike gawked at the steady stream of teenagers flowing into the California State Capitol building, I was asked, as I always am, “who are you guys?” from random passerby. And at Northern California’s Winter Congress, I responded proudly as I always do: “We’re from the Junior State of America, an entirely student run political organization. Just here to be the people.” Read the full story