By Eric Stern
February 20th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
On February 19th, MPP Natalie Pierre, Kim Charteris, and Nichole Quan visited with students participating in Burlington’s Junior Achievement (JA) Company Program.
Kim Charteris is the President and CEO of JA Central Ontario, and Nichole Quan is the Director, Corporate & Community Partnerships at JA Central Ontario.
Junior Achievement’s mission statement is: “Our mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Our work bridges the gap between education and the real world by delivering specialized programs both in school and after school.”
MPP Natalie Pierre (second from left) mixes it up with Junior Achievers
Thursday evenings, 25 students and 6 advisors meet for three hours. Over an 18-week period, we raise capital, manufacture, sell, market, and support a startup venture. Week 18, the students will shut down the company, distribute any profits to shareholders (fingers crossed), and produce a final report.
Burlington’s MPP Natalie Pierre and the student president of QuickFix.
It includes a key turner for frozen locks, a bottle opener, a whistle, a ruler, and a safety blade.
This year, the team decided to 3D-print an ice scraper multitool. This lightweight functional tool is perfect for every Burlington resident’s glove box. Complete with a key turner for frozen locks, a bottle opener, a whistle, a ruler, and a safety blade.
Students are grouped into departments: Finance, HR, Technology, Production, CSR, Marketing, and Sales.
The production team has worked through several issues to develop this unique and useful product.
The tech team has built a great website Click HERE
The marketing team is having a lot of fun: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUtLKRsjXzE/
The Sales, Finance, HR, and CSR teams are keeping the company organized and on track.
As an advisor, it’s amazing to watch students from different schools come together and form a highly functional team. Whether or not the company makes money, the students gain real-world, hands-on experience.
On behalf of the students, I’d like to thank Natalie Pierre, Kim Charteris, and Nichole Quan for their time and patience as they listened to our company’s journey and answered all of the students’ questions.
Order your QuickFix Ice-Scraper HERE
Over five decades ago, that sounds so much better than 50 years, Eric Stern participated as a student in the company program. This is his fifth year as an advisor.
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