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car may require sacrificing eating out for lunch with friends. ‘‘
The students attempt to manage their budgets as they learn about the
compromises that necessitate their purchases. For instance, driving a shiny new
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Our City, Our Region and finally, Our
Nation.
Moving forward, how finances impact
the world broadens with each grade level.
Throughout the elementary school curriculum,
students become increasingly
aware of the globalized market and the
importance of having an entrepreneurial
mind to meet the requirements of highgrowth
careers nationwide.
One Junior Achievement statistic purports
that 92 percent of students that participated
in the fifth grade program, Our
Nation, reported that they have a better
understanding of the job market and the
skills they will need to be successful in the
future.
Students continue to be indoctrinated in
financial literacy as they graduate to middle
school and high school, where multifaceted
economic concepts are brought to their
attention. Lessons challenge the students
to consider the function of money in relation
to their life’s pursuits. Goal setting,
planning and decision-making skills are
fostered in Junior Achievement’s personal
finance program to equip students with the
skills to protect themselves from, as stated
on the organization’s website, “the unexpected
financial pitfalls that plague so many
adults.”
At the high school level, students take
a field trip to local AT&T offices for job
shadowing experiences. Students meet with
AT&T engineers and electricians, both in
the office and in the construction yard.
During these site visits, they learn about the
skills required for specific jobs.
AT&T Regional Director John Lyon,
who serves on the Junior Achievement
Cape Fear Region board of directors, says
the job shadowing experience emphasizes
education, particularly graduating from
high school. Acquiring basic skills such as
reading and writing as well as computer
Junior Achievement volunteers work with all grade levels,
from kindergarten through high school. In November, first
graders at Alderman Elementary School learned about
responsibilities within a family unit in the Our Families
program while a student government class at Hoggard High
School learned about identity theft and how to prevent it.