Caitlin Turner Earns 2025 JA Shooting Star of the Year
Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain recently announced Caitlin Turner as the 2025 JA Shooting Star of the Year.
Caitlin began her tenure with Collegiate Peaks Bank five years ago as a consultant. While community engagement has always been a core value of the bank, Caitlin believed that she could contribute by proactively managing the connection between the bank and the community and helping build upon all of the great achievements and accomplishments that were already well established.
“Community is such a pillar at the bank, but no one was formally assigned to overseeing its ongoing success; we were focused on banking. This was a missing piece of the puzzle and I saw it as an opportunity to make our community engagement even better.”
For the last two-and-a-half years, Caitlin has been in her current role managing the bank’s community and public relations. While Collegiate Peaks Bank’s partnership with JA predated her arrival, Caitlin has built on the work that was well established to deepen the bank’s involvement, adding more opportunities for hands-on volunteerism and connections with students.
As someone passionate about education and economic empowerment, Caitlin appreciates that JA allows her and the bank to contribute in a hands-on way that will extend beyond the classroom. “JA is one of the few programs that truly prepares students for the real world,” said Caitlin. “It’s lifelong skills they are learning, and they are connecting the dots between now and the future. The lasting impact the programs have on the students is what sets it apart.”
Having two kids of her own, Caitlin understands the value of financial literacy but knows that it’s not taught all the time in schools. Her 11-year-old son has participated in JA’s classroom programs and has very much enjoyed them.
This June, Caitlin coordinated Collegiate Peaks Bank’s first JA Bowl-A-Thon, which raised over $2,500 for JA. Additionally, she’s playing an instrumental role in the bank’s initiative to bring JA programming to areas of the state where young people wouldn’t otherwise have access to it. “We are implementing JA at Boys & Girls Clubs across our rural markets, with support from our Mountain Branch colleagues at Collegiate Peaks Bank,” said Caitlin. “Although we are a small bank, we cover a lot of the region, and it’s really important to see the curriculum come to life across our footprint.”
As an integral part of an incredible team, Caitlin is well aware of the collective effort that has been put in by everyone at Collegiate Peaks Bank to make this a successful partnership. “I have an amazing team of colleagues who want to inspire the next generation,” said Caitlin. “They find the experience inspiring themselves. It’s a meaningful way we live out our mission.”