What makes a good pilot?
A good pilot has high-level technical skills, leadership qualities, and mental fortitude. They also need strong communication skills, calmness under pressure, teamwork, and the ability to make sound decisions in complex situations.
It’s also a good description of Lena Yarian, the president of Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana (JA).
And wouldn’t you know it? She used to be a pilot. It’s what she wanted to be growing up.
“I used to fly when I was in high school, a little 150 series airplane, out of one of the airports in LaOtto, a grass strip that doesn’t exist any longer, and then out of Auburn for a while.”
Yarian stopped flying when she had kids. She started flying because of her dad, who is from Denmark, as a way to connect. Her mother is from Sweden. They came to the United States in the early 1950s.
Her knowledge of being financially responsible came from her parents.
“As much as I wanted to spend my money as a waitress on clothing. My dad made me buy stocks. I can remember Virginia Electric Power. I picked it because it paid a big dividend, which my dad made me reinvest. That wasn’t so fun either,” Yarian said.
It’s easy to make the connection from the lessons she learned from her parents to the work she has done for the past 38-plus years with Junior Achievement.
Yarian got her start at JA with the program called applied economics, a program having educators explain the basics of economics. She eventually became the vice president of education and has been president of the organization for the last 28 years.
“I didn’t know this going into the job, but everything JA stands for are the principles in which I grew up,” Yarian said.
The growth of Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana during Yarian’s tenure has been tremendous. When she started, the organization annually served 16,300 kids. Now, it’s nearly 200,000!
“It’s grown in the depth at which we have an impact, and then also the breadth. Now, we’re pre-K through 12th grade. When I started, we had four programs, so very different,” Yarian said.
Her favorite part of the job is and always has been the education aspect of Junior Achievement.
“Some of my best early relationships were with the econ teachers. I loved them and they recognized that I’m not an educator. I’m just here to support what they do. I could never do what they do, and I’m thrilled that I can be a supportive link for them to the business community.”
She enjoys the other aspects of her job, including programming and fundraising, but anytime there is a chance for her to be involved with the education portion of JA, she jumps at it.
“I enjoy the impact it has. I remember when that young person changed how they looked at themselves, or they changed how they looked at the world,” Yarian said. “When you get to see and feel that, it’s hard to replace.”
Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana has been so successful because of people both within the organization and those within the school systems and area businesses.
“It’s the people. It’s the school’s openness and willingness to open their doors when they don’t have to. It’s the businesses’ willingness to lean in when they don’t have to. They’re in business to make a profit, not to help support schools. It’s always the people, it’s the staff, it’s the board, it doesn’t work without the people,” Yarian said.
The success of JA of Northern Indiana isn’t limited to just Indiana but Junior Achievement at the national level. Many national programs are piloted here before they are implemented nationally.
“It’s super important that things get piloted here because we want our teachers and volunteers to have input on the design of what the programs look like,” Yarian said. “If they’re designed on the east or west coast, and then they’re put into Indiana, they may not work.”
Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana is the second largest JA operation in the nation with years of proven ability and trust, so they don’t have to sell themselves and can handle whatever is thrown at them.
“They can just see it. We try to do what we promise. If we say something can happen, we know we have the wherewithal to accomplish it,” Yarian said.
The success of Junior Achievement is the result of a lot of people putting in a lot of work for a very long time. And while she may not fly anymore, Yarian has put JA of Northern Indiana on a flight path that doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
