Tech & Innovation Blog

“I really liked the different activities that we could do. It was fun using the VR and learning more about Python.” –Jane, 9th grade

“I applied my previous knowledge, but I also learned how to be a group leader and split the work evenly.” –Kush, 11th grade

While we get the opportunity to do some amazing things at ADP, how often do you get to also say that you were a positive influence in a young person’s career? That you were personally involved in encouraging someone who became a next generation tech entrepreneur? Or maybe you’ll find out in a few years that the high school student you mentored eventually wound up developing an innovative solution to detect and stop criminals. Or perhaps you’ll hear that they contributed to find a cure for a debilitating illness or disease.

Well, some of your fellow associates are doing just that. Once again, ADP proudly sponsored the Junior Achievement of New Jersey’s HackJA events for the 2019-2020 school year. If you didn’t already know, HackJA is a 24-hour hackathon for approximately 100 New Jersey high school students, which is held twice every school year in October and February. During HackJA, students are assigned tasks and challenges related to computer science and information technology. Students also participate in workshops and meet with mentors from various backgrounds.

Several of our ADP associates from New Jersey and New York volunteered at HackJA. They helped students with their projects, helped prepare student presentations, and judged the final submissions.

“I had tons of fun being a judge. I was impressed by 30+ high school teams who presented projects that were put together within a weekend. Many not only worked, but very inspirational. I would highly recommend this event to everyone!” said Bo Li, Senior Director, GPT Product Management, and HackJA volunteer.

Although most volunteers have been from Global Product & Technology (GPT) and the Global Security Organization (GSO), we also had wonderful volunteers from other areas like Sales, Finance and Global Shared Services. In addition to providing their technical expertise in areas like web design, coding, data science, robotics, and cyber security, our volunteers also helped the students with public speaking, teamwork, career exploration discussions and presentation development.

Samantha Barone, MAS Sales District Manager and two-time HackJA volunteer said, “I loved the event and I had such a fun time speaking with the students and learning about what they were passionate about. I was in awe of how incredibly intelligent every student was and their technological abilities. One of my most cherished times with ADP by far.”

There is something incredibly rewarding about helping to a future generation of technical professionals who will change the world and hopefully become ADP associates someday!

More about Junior Achievement of New Jersey

Junior Achievement (JA) of New Jersey is a non-profit organization dedicated to preparing young people in grades K-12 to succeed in a global economy through real world relationships with business, government and educational partners. All JA programs are provided at no cost to schools, students or their families, and emphasize real world learning experiences and motivate youth to achieve by connecting them with corporate and community role models committed to investing in their future.

BY RAJ UTTAMCHANDANI