Junior Achievement of South Central PA

General Information:

It's a Program! It's a Place! It's JA BizTown®!

Elementary School kids are not old enough to drive, work, date, or be the boss. But that does not stop them from wanting to get a taste of adulthood. But how? Where?

Simple! Through the JA BizTown® experience! That's right! JA BizTown® gives thousands of students in grades five and six the opportunity to run banks, manage restaurants, read utility meters, write checks, and even vote as they experience JA BizTown®, Junior Achievement's Elementary School Capstone Program. JA BizTown combines in-class learning with a day-long visit to one of 28 JA World® facilities across the U.S. and Japan where JA BizTown® is housed. This is a fully interactive, true-to-life simulation where students learn the fundamental relationship between academics and life beyond school.

"Walking around JA BizTown® writing checks, applying for bank loans, and assuming the role of a CEO, CFO, or radio station disc jockey may feel like fun and games for the students. But the fact is, JA BizTown® puts the game of life into serious context for kids by helping them connect the dots between what they learn in school and how financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship - the economics of life - play out in the real world."
            -Jack E. Kosakowski
            President, Junior Achievement USA
            and EVP/COO of JA Worldwide

JA BizTown® Rocks at JA World®!

Next, students pack up and head to JA World® for an exhilarating day-long, simulated city experience. The JA BizTown® experience helps students connect the dots through role play: students get to play CEO, CFO, Utility Worker, Restaurant Owner, Ad Executive, Consumer, Disc Jockey, Attorney, Postman, and more.

What they learn as "business owners":

To responsibly manage staff, financial resources, inventories and customers.

To work as a team.

To account for business expenses and still take in enough money to make a profit.

To balance their professional and personal responsibilities.

What they learn as "consumers":

To make wise financial decisions.

To write checks and balance a check book.

To make deposits into their bank accounts.

To manage their JA BizTown money as they purchase what they need first, and what they want second.

To understand their relationship, as consumers, to the economy.

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