The Hartford Celebrates 40 Years of Helping City High School Students Realize Career Dreams

HARTFORD, Conn., June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For many city high school students, attending college and having a successful professional career can be just a dream. But over the past 40 years, more than 1,600 Hartford high school students have been given a head start towards fulfilling this dream, thanks to an innovative mentoring and internship program offered by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. .

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Called the STAG (Successful Training -- Achieving Goals) Leadership program, this student program combines summer and after-school employment, classroom training, and mentoring for high school juniors and seniors to help them prepare for a promising future. More than 250 former STAG students are currently full-time employees of The Hartford.

"The STAG program helped me fulfill my dream of becoming the first member of my family to receive a college education," said Ruth E. Torres, a 1997 alumna of the STAG program and an Application Developer in The Hartford's business insurance actuarial department. "Now, as a full-time employee of The Hartford, I've come full circle. In addition to many other community activities, I help high school students navigate their way through the college application process as part of the Career Beginnings program."

STAG students can be found in nearly all departments at The Hartford, including claims, accounting, human resources, information technology and underwriting. Currently, 22 STAG high school students work in the company's Hartford headquarters and all of the program's 14 graduating seniors have been accepted to college.

To mark the 40th anniversary of one of the company's oldest, continuous community outreach effort, The Hartford hosted a celebration last evening at its world headquarters. Attending the ceremony were The Hartford's Chairman and CEO Ramani Ayer and current and former STAG students. In addition, Dr. Benjamin Carson, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins University and best-selling author of the inspirational book, "THINK BIG," was on hand and provided guidance to students on how to lead a successful life.

"The STAG program provides exceptional Hartford-area students with the academic and emotional support they need to prepare for college and a successful professional career," said The Hartford's Chairman and CEO Ramani Ayer. "At The Hartford, education is our top philanthropic priority. We are dedicated to supporting the public school system in the city of Hartford and the students who are part of that community."

At last evening's ceremony, The Hartford presented three STAG Leadership Scholarships of $14,000 each provided over a four year period, to STAG students. The annual scholarships were awarded based on job performance and academic achievement. The recipients of this year's scholarships are Eileen Echevarria and Nordia Savage of Greater Hartford Classical Magnet School, and Anna Vu of Hartford Public High School. In addition to financial aid, The Hartford will provide four years of summer employment, mentoring and life skills courses to the award recipients to help ensure their longer-term success.

"Our interns have had the opportunity to prepare for their future academic careers, as well as their future professional careers," said Patrick Curry, The Hartford's Senior Education Outreach Specialist. "We hope that the STAG program encourages students to pursue careers in the financial services industry, but these students will be well prepared for their futures, regardless of what profession they choose."

The STAG program began in 1966 when, in response to the era's social unrest, The Hartford hired 60 youths to renovate a run-down summer camp in Moodus, Conn. The program has evolved to provide students not only with jobs, but also with job-related training, courses in basic business skills and mentoring. To participate in the STAG program, students are required to attend a Hartford high school, maintain a "B" average or better in school and must be able to balance their work as a STAG student with schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

The STAG Leadership program is one of many components of The Hartford's long-term commitment of helping the city of Hartford improve educational opportunities for its residents. As part of its focus on public K-12 education, The Hartford has partnerships with the schools in its Asylum Hill neighborhood -- West Middle Elementary School, Quirk Middle School and Hartford Public High School -- with the strategic goal of helping ensure that, by the year 2010, all city high school graduates are academically prepared for college. In 2005, The Hartford contributed more than $2 million to programs that support local public education.

The Hartford, a Fortune 100 company, is one of the nation's largest financial services and insurance companies, with 2005 revenues of $27.1 billion. The Hartford is a leading provider of investment products, life insurance and group benefits; automobile and homeowners products; and business property and casualty insurance. International operations are located in Japan, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The Hartford's Internet address is http://www.thehartford.com/.

Some of the statements in this release may be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially. Investors should consider the important risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. These important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our 2005 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update this release, which speaks as of the date issued.

Contact(s): Victoria O'Brien 860-547-4938 victoria.obrien@thehartford.com Shannon Lapierre 860-547-5624 shannon.lapierre@thehartford.com