St. Charles Borromeo 5th graders get a taste of the working world

On April 10, fifth graders from St. Charles Borromeo School in Destrehan went to the Junior Achievement Center on the New Orleans campus of Delgado Community College to take part in the culminating lesson of the JA’s “BizTown” program, which uses experiential learning to expose young people to the free enterprise system and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

During the day, the fifth graders rotated around a mock New Orleans street as employees of a restaurant, a bank, the SPCA, the daily newspaper and other companies and shops related to city life. In addition to completing employee tasks related to their pre-assigned company, the students had to apply for business loans, track their employees’ payroll on computers, “cash” paychecks, advertise their businesses and shop for products using “BizTown” money.

“Now they know why their parents are so stressed out,” chuckled parent-coordinator Donna Blanchard, who began preparing the fifth graders for the hands-on activities in January during a weekly class period.