Four years in the Junior Achievement of Mississippi Valley,
Inc., program has earned 18-year-old Rui Bao a tremendous
award. The Metro High School graduate has received a Walt
Disney Company Foundation scholarship, covering four years
of tuition to Yale University.
And Rui had some advice for younger kids who might be considering
membership in JA.
She said, "Don't be afraid to try new things. The JA experience
will be good for you whether you stay with the program or
not."
Rui said she always had an interest in business. "I heard
about JA at school and decided to join," she said. For her,
the decision was a good one and she had leadership roles
in running four different profit-making companies.
But, she said, "Even if you don't like JA, the experience
will be worth it. Why not try."
She said, "I learned how to prioritize, how to set goals
and timelines and how to work with other people. These are
necessary skills that can be applied to many other fields."
Kids can get involved in JA while in elementary and middle
school. They get involved in running their own businesses
in high school. (If you'd be interested in exploring
Junior Achievement, visit www.jastl.org.)
Rui did like the business-building experiences of JA.
And, her successes gave her unique opportunities both within
and outside the after-school program's activities.
Born in China, her family came to the U.S. when she was
six. To make sure she didn't lose fluency in her native
tongue, she took Mandarin language lessons in St. Louis.
She served as a student master of ceremonies at a 2005
JA Worldwide U.S. Business Hall of Fame event in St. Louis.
Anheuser-Busch representatives offered her a summer internship.
With her language skills, A-B had her working in its international
marketing division.
She also joined "America's Promise," a group dedicated
to improving practical education opportunities for kids.
The national program is headed by retired Gen. Colin Powell.
She gave an example of how the program works: At a conference,
officials from Minnesota said they had received a large
amount of money to establish a program to help kids learn
about business. They were seeking help in designing a new
program.
Rui said delegates mentioned the success of the already-established
JA. "The Minnesota delegates decided to bring in JA rather
than try to build their own program," she said.
"One of the goals of America's Promise is to build coalitions
so that we don't re-invent the wheel many times," she said.
In her senior year, Rui had an unusual experience within
the JA organization.
"I was president of a company that went through a merger
with another company," she said. "Both of our companies
were on the verge of not being profitable," Rui said.
The two organizations decided to try a merger although
the products they made were quite different. Rui's company
made candy wreaths and earrings. The other company made
wineglass charms and potpourri jars.
But, after the merger, the companies streamlined operations.
"By the end of the year, we were profitable," she said.
She said the two staffs learned to work well with each other.
Young Saint Louis.com ran an earlier story about
Rui's Junior Achievement efforts. (You can read that
story by clicking on Past Stories at the top of the Home
Page and going to the June,
2006, edition.)
In that earlier story, Rui said she was interested in a
career in international business. However, she said she'll
be pursuing a college education that is broader in scope.
At Yale, she's enrolled in an "Ethics, Politics and Economics"
course of study.
"Everything in the world is interconnected and a broad
range of liberal arts subjects will be good for me," Rui
said.
"What I really want to learn in college is how to make
good judgments. A broader range of subjects will help me
make those better judgments," she said.
Rui said her senior year at Metro High School, a magnet
school, got "pretty hectic."
In addition to a full course of study and her JA activities,
she played volleyball and ran track. She also was active
in student council and worked on the yearbook. .
"Some days, I'd be in class all day and then practice
volleyball. Then, I'd have to grab a sandwich and rush to
JA. But, I have no regrets. I like to be busy," she said.
At Yale, she'll live in a dormitory suite with five other
girls. Her roommates are from Massachusetts, California,
Illinois and Philadelphia.
She said the Yale campus is "very pretty" and its Gothic
buildings are covered with ivy, just as an Ivy League college
should be.
