General Information:
It’s a Program! It’s
a Place! It’s JA BizTown!
Elementary School kids are not old enough to drive, work, date, or be the
boss. But that does not stop them from wanting to get a taste of adulthood.
But how? Where?
Simple! Through the JA BizTown™ experience! That’s right! JA BizTown
gives thousands of students in
grades five and six the opportunity to run banks, manage restaurants,
read utility meters, write checks, and even vote as they experience JA BizTown, Junior Achievement’s Elementary School Capstone Program. JA
BizTown combines in-class learning with a day-long visit to one of 28 JA
World™ facilities across the U.S. and Japan where JA BizTown is housed. This
is a fully interactive, true-to-life simulation where students learn the
fundamental relationship between academics and life beyond school.
“Walking around
JA BizTown writing checks, applying for bank loans, and assuming the
role of a CEO, CFO, or radio station disc jockey may feel like fun and
games for the students. But the fact is, JA BizTown puts the game of
life into serious context for kids by helping them connect the dots
between what they learn in school and how financial literacy, work
readiness, and entrepreneurship – the economics of life – play out in
the real world.”
– Jack E. Kosakowski
President, Junior Achievement USA
and EVP/COO of JA Worldwide.
JA BizTown Rocks –
at JA World!
Next, students pack up and head to JA World for an exhilarating day-long,
simulated city experience. The JA BizTown experience helps students connect
the dots through role play: students get to play CEO, CFO, Utility Worker,
Restaurant Owner, Ad Executive, Consumer, Disc Jockey, Attorney,
Postman, and more.
What they learn
as ‘business owners’:
-
To responsibly
manage staff, financial resources, inventories and customers.
-
To work as a
team.
-
To account for
business expenses and still take in enough money to make a profit.
-
To balance their
professional and personal responsibilities.
What they learn
as ‘consumers’:
-
To make wise
financial decisions.
-
To write checks
and balance a check book.
-
To make deposits
into their bank accounts.
-
To manage their
JA BizTown money as they purchase what they need first, and what they
want second.
-
To understand
their relationship, as consumers, to the economy.
