Each year, the Miami Trace Elementary School fifth graders are offered an unforgettable opportunity to experience what it is like to be an adult for the day at “JA Biztown.”

As their teachers, we are incredibly thankful for the support of Junior Achievement of Fayette County. The Biztown program contains important elements of community service, economics, financial literacy and business management in a hands-on real world experience.

Students spend six weeks before our visit to Biztown learning the ins and outs of personal finances, banking, entrepreneurship, business management and working as a team. The week before our trip, students are placed into 18 different real world businesses. Each business has five to six employees. Students have to fill out a job application.

Once students are assigned a business and job position, they get to meet who they are working with. They are placed with individuals that are not in their classes. This way, they have a real life experience of working with people that they don’t really know. During this time, they learn about the service or product that their business supplies and work together to make a logo and a slogan.

On the big day, it is amazing to watch students blossom and tackle problems all on their own. Biztown asks teachers to step back and let the volunteers from the local Central Ohio businesses work with students. Students get to naturally apply what they have learned at school. As their teachers, Biztown is our favorite part of the year. Students don’t just learn economics, but they also gain confidence in themselves.

We asked our students to write about their day at Biztown. Here are just a few of their comments…

“My favorite part was how we were treated like adults and got to make our own decisions.

“Biztown was fun and exciting because I got to talk to new people and work with my team.”

“I taught my work associates how to use POS(point of sale)”

“JA Biztown really made me feel like I was a real adult working at a real business.”

“Biztown teaches you how to work as an adult and teaches you smart decisions for the life you have in front of you.”

“If I could give three or more examples of my experience I would say Fun, Exciting and Amazing. Thank you Junior Achievements of Fayette County for supporting MTES.”