Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana Brings Programs to the Classroom Virtually

As our community navigates through this new way of living, educating, and working during COVID-19 restrictions, Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana is also adjusting the way we teach financial literacy, work-readiness, and entrepreneurship.  Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students, volunteers, partners, staff, and the communities we serve. 

As schools began to close, Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana reacted quickly to provide free online resources to teachers, parents, and students.  Our staff worked with local area educators to create specific materials tailored to their needs and to the needs of their students. 

When JCPS Field Elementary 5^th grade teacher, Ms. Falcone, realized her students would not be able to participate in the visit to JA BizTown, she jumped in to make sure her students would be able to visit virtually. 

Ms. Falcone continued to teach the JA BizTown curriculum that is provide by Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana.  She introduced the students to the importance of voting and allowed them to use these new skills to create a name for their online BizTown.  The following week, she assigned a lesson that taught the difference between credit cards and debit cards and the importance of financial literacy.  She had students put their knowledge to the test when deciding whether to use a credit/debit card during a live lesson.  In the meantime, JA of Kentuckiana created a video to help her students take a virtual tour of JA BizTown.  The kids were so excited to be able to actually go into the JA BizTown building and see all the stores!

Ms. Falcone shared with us that one student had this to say about their JA BizTown experience, “Online JA Hometown (name they voted on) was great to do since we couldn’t do JA Biztown. It was nice to be able to do it online with others as if it were the real field trip to JA Biztown. Being there with others in hard times like these is the best thing a person can do. So thank you for creating JA Hometown!”

We agree with this student that being there with others in hard times is the best we can do until these uncertain times are behind us.  Here at Junior Achievement, we are committed to creating programs so kids can spend more time planning for and dreaming about tomorrow, and less time worrying about today.

For more information about Junior Achievement’s online programs, visit www.jaky.org.