Presentation of the program Junior Achievement and student achievements

The program Junior Achievement and achievements of students from Smederevska Palanka and Smederevo were presented in high school Žikica Damjanović o n March 18, 2005.

The presentation was attended by:

• Trained teachers implementimng the program in the region:
  1. A Teacher Željko Poštić and Vesna Luković from Chemical school Žikica Damjanović in Smederevska Palanka, acompanied by their students, and greatly supported by their Dean, Ms. Bratislava Jelinić who has opened the event
  2. A Teacher Violeta Đorđević with students from high school of economy and trade from Smederevo
  3. Dean of High school of textile-technology and agriculture De spot Đurađ , Mr. Goran Zbiljić with students
  4. Teacher Snežana Đorđević from Gymnasium Sveta Đorđević from Smederevska Palanka
• Representatives of local government
• President of Smederevska Palanka Municipality, Mr. Radoslav Cokić
• Manager of Smederevska Palanka Municipality, Mr. Dragan Vlajić
• Head of Podunavski County, Ms. Vesna Jeremić
• Representatives of ACDI/Voca , JAS donor in central Serbia
• President of Regional Chamber of Economy , Mr. Radiša Rakić
• Consultants from the Centre for self employment

Dragana Aleksandrić, coordinator of JAS program in Serbia has presented the program and achievements reached within the program implementation during 2003/2004. Special emphasis was put on the importance of a cooperation with local government and partnership with business community. After the presentation, the students talked about their experiences from the program. The students presented their work and companies:

• High school of economy and trade from Smederevo has established a company IN-TEAM ; They have pointed out the coopertaion with a public communal enterprise Komunalac from Smederevo, which they have signed a contract with
• High school of textile-technology and agriculture De spot Đurađ from Smederevo, has established a company THE SUN , that does wide spectrum of things: production of destilled water, photocoping and organization of school entretainment in school; retail part of company sells seasonal fruits and flowers grown within school property
• Chemical school Žikica Damjanović has made un outstanding success: with the support of the school Dean, Ms. Bratislava Jelinić, the students managed to get their own room for performing JAS tasks. A space of 25 m2 was renovated by mutual efforts of parents and teachers. The students have made tables out of waste material, designed the interior and even more, managed to gain their own computer with Internet connection.

President of the Municipality of Smederevska Palanka, Mr. Radoslav Cokić, Manager of the Municipality, Mr. Dragan Vlajić and Head of Podunavski County, Ms. Vesna Jeremić have supported the program and congratulated students and teachers on the achieved results. They expressed willingess to support the program in the future and their hope that the program be implemented in other schools in Serbia. Ms Jeremić has specially underlined the need to introduce program in elementary schools, which was completely agreed upon by JAS representatives.

President of the Regional Chamber of Economy , Mr. Radiša Rakić, on behalf of the Chamber has promissed to provide suuport to the program and has announced a visit to schools in order to present the role of Chambers in a domestic economy.

The major effect of the event was that it enabled schools to present themselves to the institutions which are in a position to support entrepreneurial activities. The organizers thank warmly for this opportunity and suggest that these events should be a part of regular municipal activity.