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— 313 N. Front Street —
Historic Downtown Wilmington
(910) 343.9033
40
WBM december 2011
driving a shiny new car may require
sacrificing eating out for lunch with
friends.
“We look at the trade-offs and
how you should consider choices and
decisions with your personal budget,”
McNally says.
The lesson is just one example of
Junior Achievement programming
for middle school students. Lessons
are designed around each grade level’s
ability to grasp concepts, each year
building on the last. Programming
begins in kindergarten and continues
through high school.
At a fundamental level, Junior
Achievement programs are designed
to prepare students for the real world
by demonstrating how to generate and
manage wealth, create jobs to make
a community more robust and apply
entrepreneurial thinking to the work
place. Lessons are also designed to
reinforce skills such as problem solving,
decision-making, critical thinking
and interpersonal communications.
“JA is important to a student’s education
because it can inspire them to
apply the things they learn every day
in class to the world around them,”
says Leah Crider, a nuclear engineer
at General Electric and a Junior
Achievement volunteer. “It makes
academic learning more relevant to
everyday life.”
Last year, the Junior Achievement
of the Cape Fear region partnered
with 23 schools in New Hanover
County, impacting more than 4,600
students with its programming. The
organization recently expanded into
Brunswick County schools, thanks to
a grant supplied by Piedmont Natural
Gas. Other contributions come from
individual donations as well as corporate
sponsorship.
Lessons for elementary school students
begin with a program entitled
Ourselves, which engages the children
in activities that explain concepts such
as working, earning and saving. The
second year focuses on Our Families,
which emphasizes needs, wants, jobs
and interdependence. Programs continue
to progress to Our Community,