JA Biztown Bonanza

In JA Biztown - Kids Conducting Commerce, I was giddy about my experience at the volunteer orientation for Junior Achievement's JA Biztown day.  Well, that was today, and giddy isn't anywhere close to explaining my excitement about the program.

Today was a culmination of many weeks of work by three of our local 5th grade classes, who were able to exercise their newfound skills in money management, business operations and a taste of grown-up responsibility.

Kids... er... ah... workers, were given paychecks, asked to make bank deposits, manage their cash and checkbook registers.  As employees, they created and distributed invoices, collected payments, made deposits, interacted with retail customers and generally saw how hard it was to "work."  (Not my assessment - direct quotes.)

This was the most enjoyable morning I've spent in a very long time.

Biztown is funded in part by naming rights of the companies represented in the "town."  (See previous post on the subject for an impressive list.)  I've added a "Memorable Merchant" tag to this post as an indicator that not only was the experience memorable, but so is the willingness of the sponsors to support it.  Operationally, it relies heavily on contributions.

Contact your local Junion Achievement office, specifically, the Portland office at:

JA of Columbia Empire, Inc.

7830 S.E. Foster Road

Portland, OR  97206

Phone: (503) 238-6430

Email: bsmith@ja-pdx.org

Web address: portland.ja.org

Contribute your time, your money and your enthusiasm - you won't be disappointed!

Dave