Build Financial Skills for Life
Junior Achievement is committed to providing students a real-world perspective of personal finance—one that is current, practical and easy to understand. Junior Achievement is at the forefront of a dynamic opportunity to further strengthen its commitment by creating an experiential financial literacy center for middle and high school students in the Denver Metro area and in northern Colorado. Presented by Great-West, JA Finance Park directly complements new scholastic economic, math and reading, writing and communication standards including 21st century skills and concepts by immersing students in a fictional life situation and community.
Click the links below to learn more about how to help Colorado students build financial, career and entrepreneurial skills for life. You can also contact JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING at 303.260.6284 to learn how to get your child or students involved.
The 5,500-square-foot touring business community will be housed in the Wells Fargo Atrium at 1740 Broadway in downtown Denver from Sept. 19 through Nov. 19. JA Finance Park will move to American Furniture Warehouse in Thornton, Colo. from January to May 2012. Additional 2012 locations will be announced.
The JA Finance Park experience begins in the classroom with a monthlong curriculum that culminates in day at the Park, where students immerse themselves in a reality-based decision-making process addressing aspects of individual and family budgeting, including housing, transportation, food, utilities, healthcare, investments, philanthropy and banking. Upon entering JA Finance Park, each student is presented with a unique life situation which identifies the details of their adult persona including marital status, number of dependents, education, employment and income. The on-site activities are designed to allow students the opportunity to put what they have learned in the classroom into action and to understand the basic steps of maintaining a realistic personal budget.
To expand the reach of this exciting program, JA also offers an online version of the program, JA Finance Park Virtual. Much like the hands-on version, JA Finance Park Virtual users adopt a fictional persona, create an avatar and make fiscal decisions based on their pre-determined life circumstances all through an online environment.