The 6th Grade students at LaVille Elementary traveled to JA BizTown in Fort Wayne last week. JA BizTown engages students in the role of workers and consumers in a series of classroom lessons that culminates in a day–long simulation visit to JA BizTown, a fully-interactive simulated town. Through daily lessons, hands-on activities, and active participation in the simulated community, students develop a successful participation in a worldwide economy. The sixth grade teaching team at LaVille shared this as feedback: “As educators we love to see the kids diving into a curriculum that will help them with skills later in life. Being able to see the different ways in which the kids work through the different financial scenarios is cool to watch. The Junior Achievement program is something that they get excited about because it is something they are able to discuss with their parents and they are able to relate with things they do financially. It is a great program that gets them prepared for potential jobs and how the different businesses operate.”
Students enjoyed the real world experiences as well with one LaVille student sharing, “I liked how they offered a variety of jobs that imitated ones we could really have. It was also cool how we were able to go shopping with the money we earned, and how life-like it was.”
Principal Ken Shirley shared, “The Junior Achievement program fits with the mission statement of our corporation. The Union-North United School Corporation has the mission of empowering and inspiring students to excel in service, leadership, academics and personal growth. Our JA volunteers teach students the basics about business, but also empower and inspire our students to be successful in a global economy. The JA curriculum is a great supplement to our curriculum and helps prepare our students for State testing.”
This is the second year that the 6th grade students at LaVille Elementary have completed the JA BizTown coursework and attended the simulation.
Junior Achievement serves over 2,500 students in 115 classes in Marshall County annually. If you would like to make an impact in the lives of our future generation, contact Liz Miller at liz.miller@ja.org. For more information about Junior Achievement visit www.jani.org.
