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Health & Fitness

Boys & Girls Club Partners with Junior Achievement to Expose Kids to a Different Kind of Summer Break

Milwaukee, WI (July 24, 2013) – As the dog days of summer approach, most Milwaukee students are spending their days kicking back by the pool and hanging out at the beach. Halfway through summer vacation, the classroom is the last thing on their minds.

However, more than 700 students from the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee are putting their minds to work by participating in the third annual Junior Achievement Summer Capstone Program. The understanding of financial literacy and money management are concepts that many young adults in this country have yet to grasp. The experience takes place not in the classroom, but in JA’s BizTown and Finance Park, the simulated towns at the JA Kohl’s Education Center, which brings fun and reality to learning.

The Capstone Programs were launched in Wisconsin by Junior Achievement in 2011 to address financial literacy problems by encouraging young students to learn the importance of financial management skills and how to apply them to real-life situations. The learning labs, JA BizTown and JA Finance Park, allow students to apply their skills in a fun, hands-on learning environment. 

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During the first two years, 35 Boys & Girls Club locations and more than 1,200 students have taken part in the program. The program will be held at the JA Kohl’s Education Center on 11111 West Liberty Drive.

As part of the Capstone Program elementary school students will participate in JA BizTown, a kid-sized town where students experience a full day of interactive participation. They are in charge of running 14 different businesses, including a bank, restaurant, city hall and retail store. The middle and high school students will participate in JA Finance Park, where students receive family and income scenarios, create a budget, allocate utility expenses, and make personal investments.

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The program outcomes increase student’s understanding of the value of money, the ability demonstrate personal financial management skills and to explore careers that match their interests and abilities.

About Junior Achievement of Wisconsin

Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, Inc. is dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. The organization prepares young people for the real world, showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, create jobs which make their communities more robust, and apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Over 165,000 students in the state of Wisconsin put these lessons into action every year and learn the value of contributing to their communities. For more information, please visit www.ja.org.


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