It’s all about growing the student and creating that successful young person,” Kasey Long says about Junior Achievement of the High Plains, the local chapter of the national nonprofit organization. Junior Achievement enlists volunteers to supplement classroom teaching on topics like financial literacy, entrepreneurship and readiness for the workplace. “So when they leave high school, they have these pillars instilled in them to have success in their future,” Long says.
In Amarillo and on the High Plains, Junior Achievement delivers specialized curriculum for fifth-, seventh- and 12th-grade students. The organization’s volunteers spoke in 14 different school districts this past year—from classrooms inside the Amarillo and Canyon city limits to school districts in Booker, Darrouzett and Hutchinson County—impacting 6,300 students.
Technically, the Junior Achievement of the High Plains chapter extends all the way to Lubbock, “but we can’t grow too quickly,” Long says. “We have to match volunteers to go in and deliver the curriculum.”
She describes Junior Achievement volunteers as professionals from various fields who enter seventh- and 12th-grade classrooms for one hour a week to “enhance and elevate” districts’ education topics. Some districts don’t have specialty curriculum that addresses how to build a good credit score or the power of compound interest, for example. Volunteers lead students using worksheets and interactive digital resources to teach these award-winning lessons.
“We have all different jobs and careers” represented among volunteers, Long says. “A person in accounting at a construction company, a store manager from a grocery store, a sales consultant. Sometimes the best volunteers are parents themselves.”
As for fifth graders, they participate in JA BizTown, an immersive simulated community located on the campus of AmTech. This simulated town includes miniature versions of local businesses sponsored by enterprises like Sparkman Orthodontics, Amarillo National Bank or Amarillo City Hall. More than 3,000 students this year will spend a day in BizTown, guided by their teachers, as they learn jobs within those business operations.
“They get the experience of what a healthy economy looks like,” Long says. “Volunteers work inside the storefronts and help. They learn to pay their bills, open a savings account, fill out check deposit slips, even read meters for Xcel.” Workers “get paid” and then pay their own taxes through the city. They can even apply for college. “It goes really in-depth,” Long says.
These real-world experiences help encourage innovation and community involvement as kids approach graduation.
To get involved, visit highplains.ja.org.
