AT&T Mentoring Program For Secondary School Students Gathers Pace In Europe

LONDON, Dec. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T's* career mentoring program for secondary school students in Europe gathers pace as over 1,900 young people embark on their entrepreneurship and employability courses for the 2014-15 academic year.  AT&T is contributing $187,000 to Young Enterprise, the UK's leading enterprise and financial education charity, to help manage the program. 

AT&T employee volunteers are working with Young Enterprise (member of JA Worldwide) and five other European members of JA to share their business knowledge and skills with young people.  Students have the opportunity to join career skills master classes as well as get to learn what it's like to work for a multi-national company such as AT&T.  AT&T has selected over 60 local schools near its offices as employee engagement and mentoring is an important part of the program.  The locations of the schools include Kosice, Bratislava in Slovakia; The Hague, Amsterdam,  in The Netherlands; Boeblingen, Germany; Paris, France; Lod, Israel; Havant, Redditch and London in the UK.

"Last year, our employee volunteers coached students near our locations in Slovakia and the UK.  This year we are on track to extend the opportunity to other European locations so that even more young people have the opportunity to get inspired about business and develop their skills," said AT&T's Peter Daly, Vice President, Global Service Management. 

Students can join one or both of two programs offered by AT&T.

• For the entrepreneurial program, students have the chance to set up their own enterprise as part of Young Enterprise and JA-YE (Junior Achievement - Young Enterprise)'s Company Programme, over a period of three to 12 months and with the support of AT&T volunteer business mentors.  They have the opportunity to enter the JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition where they compete with the best student companies from the 39 country members of JA-YE Europe.
• The employability program sets out the skills and knowledge young people need to succeed.  They have the opportunity to join one-day workshops led by AT&T employees that teach work-readiness skills such as compiling personal goal statements, interview techniques and future study and career options. Where possible, students will gain work experience through job shadowing with AT&T employees.

In April 2014 six students from St Augustine's Catholic High School in Redditch, UK spent a week of work experience at the AT&T Internet Data Centre and offices in Redditch.  They shadowed AT&T employee volunteers who showed them the business perspectives and corporate strategies of customer service management and assurance, finance, legal, project management, sales, asset management and technical sales consultancy.  Five students entered the 2014 JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition.

Then in July this year, AT&T employee volunteers in Slovakia welcomed 15 students for a day from four secondary schools in Bratislava, Kosice, Levice and Namestovo.  The young people took part in customer meetings.  Additionally, they learned how to project manage, design and present a mobile application. 

Four university undergraduate alumni of the UK and Slovak schools programs completed two-month internships over the summer at the AT&T London, Redditch, Bratislava and Kosice offices.

The AT&T European school mentoring program is similar to Aspire Mentoring Academy, part of AT&T Aspire, the company's signature philanthropic initiative.  AT&T Aspire focuses on school success and workforce readiness for students in the U.S.

"This program offers students an important opportunity to boost their business acumen and experience, which can only translate into greater employability when they leave school. The support and volunteers from AT&T have enriched the program with important lessons about business and entrepreneurialism," said Young Enterprise Chief Executive Michael Mercieca.

AT&T has more than 6,000 employees in 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About Young Enterprise with pfeg

Young Enterprise is the UK's leading enterprise and financial education charity working with young people aged 4 to 25.  Following the recent merger of pfeg into Young Enterprise, it is a specialist 'one stop shop' for students and teachers, empowering young people to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need for work and in life. With 14 years of experience, pfeg continues to support teachers, government, consumer bodies and financial industry representatives to assist schools in delivering personal finance education to the highest possible standards – enabling children and young people to understand money and make informed choices to support their long term economic well-being. Young Enterprise's extensive network means it is supported by more than 5,000 volunteers and 3,500 businesses in schools, colleges and universities.  It also support teachers in 18,000 schools to plan and deliver financial education programmes.  For over 50 years Young Enterprise has worked with over four million young people across the UK to empower them to develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need for the world of work through enterprise. It is part of JA-YE (Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise) that operates in over 120 countries in Europe and JA Worldwide.

For more information on pfeg see www.pfeg.org or email [email protected]
For more information on Young Enterprise please see www.young-enterprise.org.uk

About JA Worldwide® (Junior Achievement)

JA Worldwide is one of the largest global NGOs dedicated to addressing fundamental social and economic challenges of young people by educating and empowering them to transform their future and own their economic success. Through the delivery of cutting-edge, experiential learning in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship, JA Worldwide effectively broadens the canvas of possibility for young people and enriches their ability to both engage in their own economic development, as well as contribute to the strength of their families, communities and economies. The 123-country JA Worldwide network is powered by more than 400,000 volunteers and mentors from all sectors of society, reaching over 10 million young people around the world. For more information, please visit us at www.jaworldwide.org.

About Philanthropy at AT&T

AT&T Inc. is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its community initiatives, AT&T has a long history of investing in projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; or address community needs. In 2013, more than $130 million was contributed or directed through corporate-, employee-, social investment- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T Aspire is AT&T's signature education initiative that drives innovation in education by bringing diverse resources to bear on the issue including funding, technology, employee volunteerism, and mentoring.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and internationally. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the most reliable national 4G LTE network in the United States, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best global wireless coverage based on offering roaming in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier, and offers the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV service with the AT&T U-verse^® brand. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.

Around the world, AT&T has facilities in more than 50 countries and serves multinational companies on six continents. It provides IP-based communication services available to customers in over 180 countries, which represent more than 99 percent of the world's economy.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/aboutus or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att

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