Junior Achievement

On Tuesday at about 4:35pm I took a call at work from the President of Junior Achievement (a non-profit organization centered around educating Utah's under priveledged youth). He was in a frantic trying to find volunteers to come in at 8:00am the next morning and assist with running JA City http://www.ja-utah.org/city/index.html?PHPSESSID=66d6570bf5ece794f86082da37ec870b. Another company had volunteered 15 people and had called and canceled last minute. Knowing that everyone is gone by 5:00pm I made my way around to try and round up some volunteers. After coming up empty handed I proceeded to talk Nick into joining me to volunteer.

I had been to JA City once before on a work function with my boss. I have never seen anything like it. Its set up to look like a town, with a real City Hall, businesses, banks, a restaurant etc. Each of the businesses in the city have sponsered JA and have come in and built their business to look like the real thing. Basically what happens is a school will take a field trip there (usually the 5th grade classes) and the students each get to pick what job they want to fill for the day. They are trained for weeks before they arrive, so they know mainly what they will be doing before they get there.

Nick and I were in charge of JA City Restaurant. We had a CFO, a Sales Manager, a CEO, a Beverage Manager and a Food Manager. Each student played a different role and had a manual laying out what their job responsibilities were. For example the CFO had to pay bills, make deposits, cut payroll checks, apply for the business loan etc. The sales manager had to go to the Supply Company and purchase supplies before we began.

Nick and I were there just to oversee that they all did their jobs and that the restaurant ran smoothly. The students did everything from set prices on food items, take orders, greet customers, clean the lobby, order supplies and more. On their breaks they went to the bank and set up their own fake checking accounts, deposited their pay checks, and went shopping at the other various businesses. Each business tied in somehow to the other. The kids from Qwest came in Qwest uniforms and gave us our phone bill and installed our phone, which we could use to call the other businesses. The newspaper kids came and interviewed some of us and posted our ad in the newspaper. We could buy radio ads from Simmons Media to be played over the loud speaker. IT WAS SO COOL!

I would have loved to do something like that when I was young. We were busy, on our feet all day, but the kids had such a blast! They got to spend a day in the real world and see how things work in all different types of businesses. There was even a town mayor! Nick and I really had a great time helping out. If anyone is interested they are always taking volunteers. Check out their website at www.ja-utah.org.