On April 14, the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students from Saint Michaels School will be the first students from Plymouth to experience JA BizTown and Finance Park in Ft. Wayne.
Over the past few months, the teachers at Saint Michaels have spent time in their classrooms teaching students the economic concepts and financial management and business skills they will need to be successful both at JA BizTown and Finance Park, and in life.
The JA BizTown program engages sixth grade students in the role of workers and consumers in a series of classroom lessons that culminates with the day-long visit to JA BizTown, a fully-interactive simulated town where students work individually and in teams to create business success, and build new understanding of work and careers within each of the 14 businesses in the town. Students learn about communities, the economy, free enterprise, taxes and philanthropy. They learn how to write checks, use a debit card, keep a check registry, make a deposit, and open a savings account, while also exploring work skills, teamwork and job applications.
A few blocks away at JA Finance Park, seventh and eighth grade students will be building a foundation of intelligent, personal financial decision-making and money management skills through an experiential, real life simulation. Upon entering JA Finance Park, the students are assigned a life situation that includes fictional jobs, incomes, families and expenses. They are then faced with making real-life financial management decisions about housing, transportation, savings, food, and entertainment, as well as additional choices that they will ultimately face as they enter adulthood. Through hands-on experiences, students learn about lifelong financial issues such as incomes, budgets, personal and family expenses, savings and retirement planning.
These programs have been made possible through the generous contributions of local businesses and foundations who have committed to bringing Junior Achievement back to Marshall County. “The experiential learning provided by Junior Achievement programs helps students understand the short and long-term impact of educational, financial and life-style decisions,” says Tom Wiers, president of the Board of Junior Achievement serving Marshall County. “It also prepares them to succeed as adults by teaching them basic, practical money-management skills which they will need to prosper in life. We are excited for students in Plymouth to have this opportunity.”
Junior Achievement serving Marshall County is reaching 2,400 students in 95 classrooms throughout the county in the current school year with programs that help them develop job skills, make smart education and career choices and become financially literate.
JA is Businesses’ gift to education and JA programs are provided at no cost to students and schools. For more information about Junior Achievement, please contact Julie Stabrowski at Julie.stabrowski@ja.org or 574.855.9702.
