Hostway's $25,000 Donation Moves High School Competition Downtown

Junior Achievement will hold it's second annual JA Titan competition at Hotel Allegro in downtown Chicago thanks to a donation from Hostway.

Chicago, Illinois March 29, 2006—Hostway Corporation contributed $25,000 to this year's JA Titan competition, providing the necessary funds to move the competition out of its usual classroom setting to downtown Chicago. On April 7, 2006, students from eight area high schools will compete to become industry “titans.”

JA Titan is Junior Achievement's first Web-based program to prepare students for the business world by simulating a new business launch. It puts participating students at the helm of a manufacturing company as president, production manager, marketing manager and accounting manager.

"Hostway's gift is another example of its long-standing commitment to improving the lives of the future business and community leaders of this country," said Sandy Daffé, president, Junior Achievement of Chicago. “Their strong support for Junior Achievement of Chicago programming continues to enhance the educational opportunities available to these children."

Hostway volunteers also dedicated a total of 75 hours visiting Chicago Public School classrooms on a weekly basis during the first semester. These volunteers supported the student's economics, finance and computer training with their real-life workforce examples and complemented the curriculum with the JA Titan game.

"Equipping students with the knowledge to become tomorrow's business leaders is extremely important to Hostway," said Lucas Roh, CEO of Hostway. "We're dedicated to furthering Chicagoland's growth as a technology hub; therefore it's imperative that Chicagoland technology companies inspire our youth to dive head first into today's cutting-edge technologies and business practices."

The JA Titan contest prizes, courtesy of Hostway, include four top-of-the-line laptop PCs and $600 in gift cards. The four members of the first place team will each receive a laptop (up to a $2,500 value). The second place team members will each receive a $100 gift card to CompUSA. Third prize is a $50 gift card to Best Buy for each team member.

The two winning teams will represent Junior Achievement of Chicago at the national JA Titan competition this spring. Two winners from the national competition will advance to the final JA Titan competition held at Walt Disney World.