During the months of November and December, all fifth grade elementary students are partaking in Junior Achievement's BizTown. This event is sponsored by our school parent organizations, the New Prague Education Foundation and the Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative.
BizTown is a unique opportunity for students as they learn beginning steps of financial literacy while also understanding the roles businesses play in their community. The curriculum is approximately 8 weeks long and culminates with a full day at a simulation center in the metro. During this simulation, students take on roles as business members within a community. Students are given a real-life, hands-on experience of what it is like to be a member of a community, including: working at a business or running a business, earning a paycheck, paying taxes and voting!
Prior to attending the simulation, students may participate in a job fair at their school where students apply for businesses they would like to work for when at the BizTown simulation. The students are interviewed by their peers, who are acting CFO and CEO’s of the identified businesses. During the interview process, students share information about themselves, why they want to work at the identified company, along with highlighting what makes them a great employee!
New this year, all seventh grade students will participate in Junior Achievement's Finance Park which is a spinoff from the fifth grade of BizTown! This field trip will occur in January and is being led by 7th Grade STEM Teacher, Anna Borwege.
A big thank you to all of the volunteers who attend this event with our students!