JA in a Day is the first of its kind. Junior Achievement (JA) is a national organization dedicated to teaching elementary schoolers about financial literacy, workplace readiness and entrepreneurship. Marshall’s IB business program, however, is the first to adapt the JA program in such a way that high schoolers can teach it entirely in a day—as opposed to one session a week for six weeks.
“It was a huge deal,” IB Business teacher Rebekah Glasbrenner said.
Out of 123 applicants to the program, many from Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), 75 were accepted and 67 went to Shrevewood Elementary School on April 1 as part of JA in a Day. Each grade level learned about a different facet of business; and a group of three to four Marshall students taught each class.
“We are like Shrevewood’s big brother,” senior Carlos Flores said. “We have a partnership with them and it is very successful.”
Marshall students received kits and worksheets from the national branch of JA for their presentations, and combined those with information from surveys distributed to the Shrevewood students in advance to create Powerpoints relevant to their specific class’s interests.
“We [used] a lot of SpongeBob references,” Glasbrenner said.
The Marshall students taught approximately 600 Shrevewood students and “they were all adorable,” senior and FBLA president Brittany Miller said.
At the end of the day, all the participating Shrevewood students received a certificate of achievement.
“I think it [was] a great experience for both high school [students] and the kids that we teach,” sophomore Cindy Pham said.
IB Business teacher and Business Department chair Kimberly Fields was instrumental in adapting the JA program.
“I said to the director of the Virginia programs, ‘Our students are just as good as your company employees,’” Fields said.
JA in a Day first debuted in full last year; local news organizations WUSA9 and Apple21 covered the event both last year and this year. CNN also initially intended to cover the event this year until the disaster in Japan struck.
Attending Marshall students could receive service hours in the IB program.
“It’s a phenomenal opportunity for the students to apply [what they’ve learned] for a service project,” Fields said. “I feel that students should be able to give back to the community.”
Shrevewood assistant principal Linda Peace said that the students were still talking about the event a week afterwards.
Peace said, “It’s something they may aspire to [do] because the high school students were such good role models.”