On Thursday afternoon, Feb. 9, Richmond and Columbia County schools recognized significant construction progress on the Junior Achievement Discovery Center with a groundbreaking ceremony.
The center, created with the help of several business partnerships, will host 13,000 to 15,000 middle school students every year, and teach them real life skills such as personal finances.
At 3:30 p.m., near Columbia County’s Department of Transportation located off of River Watch Parkway, faculty and board members from both counties attended, and gave brief celebratory speeches about upcoming educational opportunities thanks to the in-progress discovery center.
“Today marks a milestone,” said Junior Achievement of Georgia President and Chief Executive Officer John Hancock. “Our purpose is to give young people a door to a really authentic, relevant learning experience that helps bring to light the things they are learning in the classroom.”
Hancock also said at the ceremony that project Junior Achievement Worldwide has been nominated for a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, because of the program’s global reach, unification through diversity and its success in delivering economic empowerment at scale.
With two available pathways, one which focuses on business and the other on finances, Hancock said discovery centers around the state have shown educators the power of creating a space where experiential learners can thrive alongside their academically gifted peers.
“We make the world bigger for them, and we help affirm that there will be a place for them – that the opportunities are perhaps bigger than what they may have previously imagined,” he said. “We do that work better with real companies, real brands and real people out in the real world.”
Partnered business that will have stations in the discovery center include: Chick-Fil-A, Delta, Georgia Power, Publix, SRP Federal Credit Union, YMCA of Greater Augusta and Georgia United Credit Union.
Columbia County School District Superintendent Steven Flynt said, “it’s all about the students and engaging them in their learning … and I’ve never seen it done better than like the JA Discovery Center.”
Flynt spoke on how his three daughters underwent a JA Discovery program when they were younger, and how it left both kids with very fond, educational memories.
“It’s very big for our students. So, the purpose is here and the purpose is great,” he said. “The dynamic piece about this program and the partnership that really makes a huge difference are the people who are going to volunteer, and the businesses across this community that are going to be involved with us everyday our students are participating.”
Richmond County Superintendent Kenneth Bradshaw said the programs would act as a great educational hook and experience for middle schoolers – especially those who tend to lose interest in traditional, textbook academics.
“Thank you Richmond County Board of Education for believing in me and believing in this vision knowing that it will have a profound impact on student achievement for our students,” he said.
William McKnight, president and senior project manager of McKnight Construction, said he believed the center was going to be an enormous opportunity for students to learn daily life skills.
The JA Discovery Center is scheduled to be fully operational for student usage in the fall semester of 2023.
“To see sixth graders and eighth graders participate in all types of financial things you have to do in order to live,” he said. “It’s going to be a great, great tool for our students to learn about things in real-life.”
Following the short addresses, the ceremony concluded with attendees gathering outside to witness staff don blue construction hats, and shovel commemorative piles of dirt.
Hancock said the discovery center will serve as “conduit for creating unity in diversity,” and can ultimately bring communities together by empowering youth with economic knowledge.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education, lifestyle and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
