Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, Wells Fargo and MidAmerican Energy have teamed up to provide JA BizTown Mobile, a learning experience that provides educators with lessons and resources to integrate financial literacy and work and career readiness, at College Community Schools.
College Community students and educators will have access to the mobile learning unit for the first two weeks of May.
After learning in the classroom, students will put their skills to work by becoming employees for a day at a hands-on simulated learning facility that features different businesses and industries. JA BizTown Mobile is an experiential learning event where students have jobs, participate in the “local economy” and vote for mayor.
“The ability to expose our students to these financial literacy, collaborative and community experiences through an onsite simulation is a great step forward in preparing our students for their future participation in our community,” said Doug Wheeler, superintendent of the College Community School District.
During their time at JA BizTown Mobile, students operate a simulated economy and take on the challenge of operating businesses. They get hands-on experience as employees and consumers, paying rent, taxes, and utilities, buying advertising from the radio station, purchasing insurance, depositing paychecks, buying other businesses’ products, and handling customer service.
“We are proud to support Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa and its mission of bringing critical financial literacy instruction to Iowa’s kids and young adults,” said Wells Fargo Branch Banking Region Director Laura Howe in a release.
“As a key partner, Junior Achievement’s JA BizTown Mobile will help students throughout the area understand the importance of being fiscally responsible and how that impacts their future,” said Kathryn Kunert, vice president of economic connections and integration at MidAmerican Energy, in a release.
JA BizTown Mobile includes 12 teacher-led sessions prior to the simulation and one session following the simulation, with a culminating 4-5 hour visit to a hands-on simulated community set up in their school.
