Sand Hill and Glen Dale Students Go to JA BizTown

Two schools in Marshall County had the opportunity to spend a day at Junior Achievement’s BizTown in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.

Sand Hill Elementary and Glen Dale Elementary’s trip to JA BizTown was the capstone exercise following 12 lessons of in-class experiences that helped students learn about work readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Part of the BizTown preparation for students even included drafting resumes, and then participating in interviews for jobs with the help of adults in the community.

“I’ve learned that having a job is hard and that it takes a lot of work,’ explained Evan Cunningham. “I’ve also learned it’s really important to help others out so that everyone gets their jobs done.”

Once at JA BizTown, students spent the day in a simulated city, acting as business leaders and employees of familiar local businesses, like Ace Hardware and Comcast, to offer public and private goods and services. “I was the CFO of FedEx at BizTown,” said Gracey Hubbard. “I learned how to do loans and payroll. It was really fun learning how businesses work.”

While inside the 10,000-square-foot town, students had the chance to serve in roles ranging from town mayor to a salesperson and everything in between. Students had to write their own checks, manage the day-to-day functions of businesses and jobs and work to make their community thrive. It’s teaching me how to be an adult and how to do things like write a check and cash a paycheck,” Braelyn McMillan said.

“Getting the chance to see students at BizTown has been one of my favorite experiences as an educator,” said Sand Hill Elementary School Counselor Claire Juszczak. “The students learned skills that many people don’t learn until much later in life, and they had fun doing it. I also believe it has brought out quite a few leaders. I loved seeing students step up to become CEOs or CFOs who might not normally have gone for that position.”

Students from both elementary schools enjoyed the real-world field trip. “BizTown is awesome. It was just like real adult life,” Kason Eddy explained. “I was a tradesperson and got to build a bench with Mascaro Construction.” Evan Cunningham added, “I don’t think any students should be afraid to come here, because it’s so much fun and not scary at all.”

This experience was made possible due to a generous donation from Sand Hill Elementary’s partner in education, MPLX.