This morning, we visited Junior Achievement, a program dedicated to teaching young people about financial literacy. We worked with 5^th graders to help them understand how an economy works, and how each person contributes to it in their own way. Going into Junior Achievement, there was a sense of confusion as to why we were there. However, as the morning went on, it was clear that our job at JA was to help lead and mentor the students through their first experience of employment.

Often, we ran our own shops to open up the availability of the economy to the 5^th graders as a way to further their understanding through a diverse shopping/saving experience. Overall, JA was an excellent opportunity to get first hand experience in being a mentor and leader, and to see how the same children we mentored used problem solving skills to run their own businesses. Above all else, seeing the children be able to apply these same skills to the wider world is what made the experience worth while.

              We were inspired by how professional they seemed and how passionately they engaged in the experience. They all worked hard the entire time and we were amazed by their excitement over jobs and tasks we often don’t think too much about. They also had great community, they all worked together and cheered one another on, keeping up the energy the entire time. We could see how excited all the kids were over getting to do this and all the dreams the kids had and could see how important this was to inspire them for their futures.

Happy Birthday Mom!! -Breen

Happy Birthday Mom!!- Jack W