While Richmond and Columbia County school districts develop their partnership with Junior Achievement, teachers in Chatham County tout the value of the Discovery Center there.
Superintendents Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw in Richmond County and Dr. Steven Flynt in Columbia County signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Junior Achievement on March 8. The target to open the local Discovery Center, to be created in the Columbia County Support Department Complex in Evans, is Fall 2023.
The local center will be the sixth to open in Georgia. The most recent one opened in early February in Savannah.
[adrotate banner=”51″]
“The students are very excited about it. They get to go and kind of interact in these businesses as if they’re real businesses and get to see what it would be like to make a budget and figure out all the financial stuff that adults have to do,” said teacher Rebekah McCord, a teacher at STEM Academy at Bartlett in Savannah.
Like the one coming to Augusta, the Savannah center has two components targeting middle school students.
JA BizTown is for sixth grade students. It creates a simulated economy and students take on the challenge of running a business. In additional to learning the challenges of being a professional, the students also learn about opportunities in Savannah.
Seventh and eighth grade students utilize JA Finance Park to experience being an adult including creating a budget and providing for the needs of a household. Students are given a ‘life situation’ including profession and family.
“I think it’s really important because they can go ahead and start having goals for themselves, financially, as well as just career wise, personally, and kind of getting them thinking about credit, and all these things that are going to affect them later, said McCord. “It’s good that they early on know exactly what they’ll be doing, and how to handle all these financial situations that are going to rise in their adulthood.”
McCord said feedback from parents has been positive. Parents have said the lessons being taught in the center reinforce what they try to teach at home but realize their child may view it as a lecture at home.
“A lot of students, it’s surprising how many are really into learning about finance. I think a lot of that goes with this generation, being able to be online and social media. They already know about things like Bitcoin and stocks and savings accounts. So, it’s really bridging that gap about what they hear and what they see,” she said.
[adrotate banner=”15″]
The local center will be about 30,000 square feet within the complex in Evans. It will cost about $4.5 million to create the center with Richmond and Columbia County school districts splitting the cost. It will serve upwards of 15,000 students in this area.
McCord said there’s one thing she wants parents, and taxpayers, to know.
“I want them to know that it’s really going to get their children excited about learning about personal finance, how to responsibly create a budget, how to do those day-to-day financial things that we all have to do. And just be able to be ready to jump into adulthood,” she said.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
