The McGrath Family BizTown™
In addition to its core K-12 classroom programs, Junior Achievement of San Diego also offers The McGrath Family JA BizTown™, a unique learning experience for 5th graders. The McGrath Family JA BizTown in San Diego's Mission Gorge neighborhood is a 10,000 square foot mini-city in which kids discover how free enterprise really works.
JA BizTown encourages students to learn about the free enterprise system by actively participating in a simulated town of 21 life-sized shops, including businesses, a non-profit organization and a city hall. Everyday 150 students experience:
- Working in a bank, a television station, or a retail store.
- Managing personal finances such as writing checks.
- Opening accounts and paying bills.
- Creating a spending budget and tracking expenses.
- Becoming business owners.
- Making financial decisions.
- Exploring philanthropy.
Through these hands-on activities, helps students understand their economic world and prepares them for academic learning and lifelong achievement.
BizTown also provides teachers with a new approach to teaching economics, and parents can actively participate with their children as BizTown volunteers.
BizTown Curriculum
Teachers spend four weeks teaching the BizTown curriculum. Students learn economics, good citizenship, and money management. Each business offers the students the opportunity to work as CEO, CFO, or a business specific job. Students apply for the job that interests them. Once they are assigned to a job, students spend time with the other employees in their business to develop their business operating budget, apply for a bank loan, create advertising, and develop their marketing strategies.
Then students come to The McGrath Family JA BizTown, become "grown-ups" for a day and apply all of the principles they have been learning:
- Students work in a life-sized interactive city designed to reflect San Diego in the businesses, landscape, and architecture.
- In front of City Hall, the mayor gives a speech reminding the citizens of the laws of BizTown, and encouraging everyone to exercise their civic duty by voting.
- Students check the business break schedule to know when they are allowed to leave work, visit the bank, and become a consumer in the city.
The students leave with a greater understanding of the value of a dollar, the importance of team work, and how to be a contributing citizen in the community. The students leave BizTown feeling personally successful after a day of working hard at their jobs. They only spend one day at The McGrath Family JA BizTown, but the impact that this experiential learning has will last a lifetime!
