I was so excited to be able to volunteer for the 5th grade field trip to JA Biztown for two days this week!!! It was such an incredible experience.
Jonas interviewed at school and landed a position as a Web Designer for the newspaper. He was so funny and said, “Mom, I thought I was just going to be designing the web page for the newspaper, but I ended up having to design web pages for all of the businesses in Biztown. They should’ve paid me more!”
The businesses represented were City Hall, the Memorial Foundation, UPS, Creative Solutions, the Newspaper, Biztown Center, TriStar Health, Dollar General, Pet Adoption Center, Journeys, First Tennessee Bank, the TV Station, the Radio Station, and a Restaurant. Each of the businesses had an adult volunteer (or two) to help facilitate four to eight 5th graders in various positions (every job had a yellow list of instructions to be followed). Over the course of two days, each 5th grade employee received two paychecks that they deposited at the bank and two paychecks that were direct deposited. They were encouraged to buy health insurance, make a deposit into their savings accounts, and given debit cards for spending money on their breaks (all while updating their check registers). Items available for purchase included: dog tags, buttons, tissue paper flowers, or t-shirt bracelets (Creative Solutions), newspapers (Newspaper), back scratchers and stress balls (TriStar Health), slime (Journeys), songs and song dedications (Radio Station), and popcorn and drinks (Restaurant). Each business held two staff meetings a day, and each employee got to take two breaks a day. I was the volunteer in Creative Solutions. We had a CEO, a CFO, four designers, and two sales managers. It was fascinating watching all of the kids personalities rise to the forefront and either work for them or not in their various positions.
What a rich experience! I’m so grateful that Jonas (and I) got to be a part of it. Here’s a picture of my little Web Designer…
