Appleton Mayor to Meet with His JA BizTown Peer

APPLETON, WISCONSIN – Appleton Mayor, Jake Woodford, will be visiting JA BizTown® on April 25th, at the Community First Career Exploration and Financial Literacy Center on the FVTC Campus to greet the Mayor of BizTown and other JA BizTown citizens.

Nearly 4,000 northeast Wisconsin 4-6 graders will attend JA BizTown this school year after they complete a 12-lesson curriculum in their school classroom. The classroom lessons teach students about the flow of an economy, personal finance, typical businesses found in a city, how and why businesses must operate with a profit, and how employees work together to be successful. Students apply and interview for their JA BizTown “job” and when they arrive at the Appleton facility, they are ready to get to work and run the town.

Upon arrival at JA BizTown, the student “citizens” go to their assigned storefront and begin the task of operating the business for a day. There is a Town Hall meeting led by the Mayor of BizTown where each CEO has the opportunity to tell citizens about the goods and services that their business will be offering for the day. Each Business Team must manage their daily operations, pay back a bank loan, and pay their employees for a day’s work. Employees must complete their job tasks and interact with their storefront customers. JA BizTown citizens earn their wages and use debit cards, checks and “BizTown Bucks” to enter other storefronts on their breaks and spend their earnings. They also visit City Hall to pay bills, apply for permits and vote.

Mayor Woodford will attend the Town Hall meeting from 9:30-10:30 AM to greet the students from Appleton Area School District schools -Richmond Elementary, Appleton Bilingual School, and Columbus Elementary, as well as his peer, the Mayor of JA BizTown.

“JA BizTown is a unique hands-on, minds-on opportunity for students to learn economic, personal finance, and business concepts.” said Jill Hanneman, Junior Achievement Capstone Manager. “Students love being adults for the day, and we know that Mayor Woodford’s visit will reinforce the importance of the work they are doing and help them make connections to their community.” added Hanneman.

JA BizTown storefronts mirror business partners found in Northeast Wisconsin, including Community First Credit Union, Miller Electric, Amcor, YMCA, Fox Valley Technical College, Boldt, Pieper Power, Bergstrom Automotive, Wisconsin Public Service and Kimberly-Clark.