6th Annual Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Competition
Montgomery County Teen Named Youth Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and Junior Achievement
Washington, DC (June 16, 2009) – Timothy Hwang, a junior at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, MD, was named Youth Entrepreneur of the Year for the Greater Washington Region by Ernst & Young and Junior Achievement of the National Capital Area. Timothy, who is 17, was honored for founding Operation Fly Inc., a non-profit organization that provides services to the homeless in Washington, DC and four other major cities.
"Timothy has demonstrated tremendous entrepreneurial spirit in successfully creating and managing a multi-city non-profit organization that has a profound impact on the lives of needy citizens," said Ed Grenier, President and CEO of Junior Achievement. "We are very pleased to partner with Ernst & Young to recognize Timothy with this award."
Timothy founded Operation Fly Inc. in 2007 after witnessing extreme poverty while volunteering in Guatemala two years prior. In an effort to combat the problem locally, Timothy recruited several of his friends to help the homeless in Washington, DC, funding the organization’s efforts by offering a low-cost tutoring program to area students. Since then, Operation Fly Inc. has expanded to involve hundreds of high school students at 20 chapters in Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Boston. More information about Operation Fly Inc. can be found at www.operationfly.org.
This year was the sixth time the Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award has been offered in the Greater Washington Region. Timothy was chosen from among numerous teen applicants for the honor, which includes a $1,000 award from Ernst & Young and Junior Achievement as well as recognition at Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and the Washington Business Hall of Fame.
About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Awards Program
The Entrepreneur Of The Year® awards program was created and is produced by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. As the first award of its kind, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic and growing businesses. The program honors entrepreneurs through regional, national and global award programs in over 100 cities and 35 countries.
About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 130,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve potential. For more information, please visit www.ey.com.
About Junior Achievement
Junior Achievement is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to educating students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. JA’s programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Today Junior Achievement annually reaches more than nine million students worldwide and more than 40,000 in the Greater Washington Region. For more information, visit www.myJA.org.
For more information, please contact David Bing, Director, Operations, at (202) 777-4475 or David.Bing@JA.org.
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