Coan Middle School students were the first from APS to experience the Junior Achievement (JA) and Chick-fil-A Foundation’s, Discovery Center BizTown. JA BizTown is designed as an interactive marketplace representing the local business community, including financial services, media, telecommunications, utilities, manufacturing and more. In this interactive financial literacy program, students received unique job assignments as an employee, tax payer and consumer in their assigned businesses.
Coan students were engaged in their roles and worked as a team to develop a budget, make purchasing decisions, and deposit pay checks. Their business day included everything from staff meetings to shopping at the businesses.
“Working as a CFO is kind of hard. You have to write checks and pay bills, and it felt very real. I would like to do this again and try being a physician next time.”
– Aaliyah Lewis, 6th grade, CFO at Emory University
“It’s been really fun having my own job and getting my own paycheck. I had to do a lot of paperwork, check on my employees, and give customers what they need. I had to learn about the company, and how to deposit and write checks. It’s been a rush, but it’s been fun.”
– Derrick Dorsey, 6th grade, CEO of Newell Rubbermaid
Sixth and seventh graders from all APS middle schools will have an opportunity to participate in JA BizTown or JA Finance Park during the school year.
For more information, visit Junior Achievement’s Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center.
Talk Up APS 
I went here just yesterday on the 16th. IT WAS SOOOO FUN!!!