Summit Students Run Simulated Town

SUMMIT, NJ - A series of lessons, 13 to be exact, on work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy culminated in a day-long field trip to the volunteer-assisted simulated mini-city of JA BizTown.

In Biztown, students apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to “real life” as they role play in 14 different store-fronts, including a bank, retail store, radio station, city hall, and more in jobs such as CEOs, CFOs, tellers, medical technologist, and town mayor.

According to Kelly Klaif, speaking on behalf of fellow teachers Jessica Breznak, Kate Polles and Amy Chambers, the curriculum has been implemented in the past.

"My students have definitely become more involved and excited about this program as we continued to unpack and create relatable lessons each year. The students learn about different savings accounts, payment methods, careers, and most importantly, how to run a business," Klaif said. "They even get their own checkbooks and account numbers."

According to Klaif, when she asked her class what they were most excited for in preparing for Biztown they had very clear answers.

"Getting job offers, being independent and getting paychecks, being an adult for a day,” Klaif said.

According to Klaif the financial literacy work that they were teaching really did connect with some of the other subjects throughout the day. The team of teachers were able to blend the work into the math, reading, writing and technology curriculums.

Klaif said that since September the team has been working through the BizTown lessons and teaching the students in depth, about how they will manage their responsibilities and paychecks on the day of the trip. Based on their jobs, the students work together in a business to complete quite a few tasks before the final event.

"For example, one group of students will be employers at the BizTown Radio Network. In order to be prepared for their workday, the CFO will need to make sure they have operating costs figured out," Klaif said. "The manager will be working on creating advertisements and newspaper ads with the other employers. When we walk into BizTown in December, the three other teachers and I take a step back and let the students completely take over and run their businesses."

Another key component to the event is a political one.

"A huge part of BizTown prep is having our Mayor elections. There is a City Hall in BizTown so we need to have one student from our whole 5th Grade to run the town for us," Klaif said. "They will introduce business, hold town meetings, nominate employees, etc."

Noah Imbrahim was chosen out of 15 candidates after a campaign that included posters, stickers and a speech given to the entire grade.

Some examples of the businesses in Biztown this year were Chick-fil-A, U-Design-It, Biz Radio, City Hall and UPS. Some of the job titles this year were: CFO, CEO, designers, reporters, managers, bank tellers, community assistance members and real estate agents.

"The different jobs and businesses are divvied up based on the students interests and job interviews. Students take time to read job descriptions, watch videos and learn about specific job requirements before they apply to three different options," Klaif said. "Once they were ready, students will interview with their teacher, receive feedback and eventually will be offered a job. We have students who will come to school on the day of their interviews wearing a fancy dress or carrying a briefcase. They take this very seriously and it makes it tough to pick the appropriate jobs."

Klaif said now that the BizTown curriculum is finished and they have attended the field trip, the main goal for the students is to learn responsibility and have a better sense of how money is earned and spent.

"We would also love for them to relate this work to their life right now. We have done a lot of work that involves teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and personal goal setting," Klaif said. "It would also be rewarding if students thought about things in a more realistic way. For example, after talking about the job process, students were shocked to hear that you might have to apply to 50 jobs or go to interviews for a year straight. It has a beneficial impact on students and the way that they view life outside of school."

According to Klaif, the BizTown curriculum is not easy and it really challenges the students.

"We usually have a few who after the BizTown simulation will say 'Wow, working is hard!' or 'Is this what my parents have to do every day?' or 'I’m ok staying a kid for a bit longer,'" Klaif said.

(Photo #1: Reider Birch and Kate Polles delivering electricity
Photo #2: Brian Cheney delivering emergency supplies to citizens of BizTown
Photo #3: Brooke Harvey and Grace Hickey setting up their business
Photo #4: Sophie Meltzer voting for a new BizTown law
Photo #5: Mya Pardo hard at work
Photo #6: Ben Savarese, Lavya Tyagi, Tanya Patel, Katie Walker, Kelly Klaif and Amy Chambers
All photos courtesy of the Summit School District)

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