Junior Achievement Archives

Entrepreneurs as future leaders

Junior Achievement teaches business goals

Adiya Jones, Ethan Horne, and Mikaylee Pablo present their design concept to their peers.Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News — Adiya Jones, Ethan Horne, and Mikaylee Pablo present their design concept to their peers.
*Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News*

By Andrew Gobin

August 4 through August 8, Tulalip students involved in the summer youth program attended the Junior Achievement camp. Each year Junior Achievement (JA) teaches students ways to successfully manage finances. This year, the camp focus was on the importance of setting business goals and entrepreneurship.

The first exercise was in developing an idea for a youth center, then designing it.

“The kids have the freedom of imagination,” said Lee Veal, one of the community educators hired by JA. “They get to design a teen center with what they would like to have. There are no limits, the only stipulations were that their designs had to include bathrooms and a study room.”

In groups of two to three, students designed unique concepts including multi-level facilities with a wide array of amenities including retail space, computer labs, game rooms, recording studios, and quiet areas for relaxation and meditation. All of the plans included a fitness area complete with a lap-pool, spa, and sauna.

With the freedom to plan without limitations students were very creative with their design concepts, paying close attention to details like design scale, layout, doors, and building flow. Drew Hatch went so far as to layout the bathroom fixtures, right down to the urinals.

“I’ve done this with a lot of students for a lot of years, but this is the first time I’ve seen this,” said JA Regional Director, Gary Hauff, about the attention to detail in the layout of the restrooms in Hatch’s design.

Drew Hatch and Gary Hauff discuss the details of his design concept.Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News — Drew Hatch and Gary Hauff discuss the details of his design concept.
*Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News*

The unique designs are extravagant, but not so much that they are unrealistic.

Student Diana Aguilar said about her project, “It’d be cool to see the design built.”

While that would be a dream, the purpose for the exercise was to have students create a concept, then learn how to make that concept a reality.

Hauff said, “This year we are focusing on entrepreneurship. Last year, and the years previous, the camp was focused on investment and personal finance management, which can get boring crunching numbers all day. This year we wanted to do something a little more hands on, and get a little more participation.”

“We learned to work together better, and better planning for projects,” said Aguilar.

The goal of the camp is to show students how to make their ideas into a profitable reality. With creativity and planning, anything is possible. Now that their designs are finished, students will use them as business models to learn about start up costs and business planning. The youth are our future, both for our culture and our economic prosperity. With entrepreneurs as our future leaders our economic successes are sure to continue.

Andrew Gobin is a staff reporter with the Tulalip News See-Yaht-Sub, a publication of the Tulalip Tribes Communications Department.
Email: agobin@tulalipnews.com
Phone: (360) 716.4188

Hatching nest eggs, a walk in Finance Park

Native youth attend Junior Achievement camp

Upon entering Finance Park, students are given an identity complete with a salary, a family, pets, and a debit card, to learn how to juggle their finances in "real world" situations. — Upon entering Finance Park, students are given an identity complete with a salary, a family, pets, and a debit card, to learn how to juggle their finances in “real world” situations. Photo/Andrew Gobin.

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

Students from the Tulalip Tribes Summer Youth Program spent the day in Finance Park at Junior Achievement World in Auburn, on Thursday, August 15th. The day at the park is the culmination of a two-week educational JA (Junior Achievement) camp at Tulalip. The camp is unique to the tribes as it targets what Tulalip students are calling their “18 money,” the trust fund per capita that the tribe sets aside for them until they graduate. The Tulalip camp focuses on the trust fund, and teaches how to make that money go further.

“Junior Achievement is actually a k-12 curriculum,” explains Gary Hauff, regional director for Junior Achievement. “Typically we go into schools and offer education programs for class credit. For the tribes, we are trying something different. The summer camp is unique to Tulalip, geared towards teaching personal finance responsibility and budgeting agendas.”

“At JA we work with the youth to plant the seeds of financial responsibility and stability,” added Sue Elkin, manager at JA World.

Finance Park is designed as a virtual city where students can practice being adults, and put into action what they learned at camp. Arriving at JA World, the students are given an identity complete with a salary, a family, pets, and a debit card. Students then buy or rent a house or apartment, purchase a car that adequately fit the demands of their virtual life, collect and pay their bills, and even make time for vacations. Along with projected costs, kids learn to deal with unexpected costs that arise in everyday life. Students tour the park, collecting bills and shopping, and making the dreaded stop at the chance station, where they draw cards that may result in an unlucky additional cost to their budget, such as taking their pet to the vet.

“We get a real look at life, and what the costs are,” said Bradley Fryberg. “Here [Finance Park] I make $48,000 a year, I have no kids, I’m single, 30, and have an apartment and a sports car.”

Some students juggled two or three kids and drove mini vans.

“Junior Achievement teaches us to be responsible with our money,” said Bryce Juneau Jr. who is planning on saving his trust money until after college.

Students learn about stocks and bonds, compound interest accounts, the risks associated with both of those, and the possible gains they offer.

“Just as life is multi-faceted, we at JA are diversifying,” explained Elkin. “We used to be strictly business oriented, then last year we started branching out into the sciences and other fields. This year we worked to incorporate art and music into the program.”

Tulalip Tribal Member, Israel Simpson, and his winning shoe design. Photo/Andrew Gobin

This included a little fun competition working with shoe designs and a special appearance by Native shoe designer Louie Gong.

Gong spoke to the students about his designs and the work it entails. He provided shoe forms called “mockups” for the kids to express their creative talent on. The shoes were then voted on and the student with the winning shoe design received tickets to a Mariners game.

Tulalip’s Israel Simpson designed the winning pair of shoes. “I just picked up the pens and kept going. Inspired from my auntie, always saying, draw what you feel.”

The camp encourages education, both in the completion of high school and in pursuing higher education. This is important, because many do not realize that should they not complete high school or get their G.E.D., they with not get their trust per capita until they are 21.

Many different post high school options are explained including trade schools, community colleges, universities, online degrees, and entrepreneurship.

Help students develop financial literacy

Junior Achievement is hosting its first Radiance in the Shadows event on June 8

By Marci Larsen, Superintendent of the Mukilteo School District

Junior Achievement in Snohomish County empowers young people to own their economic success by providing in-class curriculum that focuses on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness. In Snohomish County, JA reaches over 14,000 students in a variety of public and private schools. With the help of 485 volunteers, JA students develop the skills they need to experience the realities of the real world. Thousands of local students are being exposed with age appropriate integrated curricula for grades K-12, designed to help them understand the world of economics and help to prepare them for lifelong learning and achievement.

JA Success Skills, a curriculum which is taught at several local high schools, allows students to learn the process of obtaining a job (including mock job interviews) and becoming a stronger employee for our local businesses. The students are taught by business professionals who share their expertise in their respective fields as it pertains to workplace protocol, ethics, and financial responsibility.

Another curriculum being taught, JA Personal Finance introduces students to the importance of making wise financial decisions. The program demonstrates the value of planning, goal setting, and thoughtful decision making within the context of personal finance. Junior Achievement in Snohomish County is providing real world learning experiences to students of all ages so they can be better prepared for their future and be informed citizens in the community.

In partnership with the Tulalip Resort & Spa and Long Shadows Winery, we are proud to announce that Junior Achievement is hosting its first Radiance in the Shadows event on June 8. This VIP event will feature an exclusive five-course dinner prepared by renowned Chef Perry Mascitti paired with wines from Allen Shoup, CEO of Long Shadows Winery. In addition to live music in the Oasis Pool area during a hosted cocktail reception, the evening will conclude with a private concert by local musician and national sensation Mycle Wastman, who debuted on NBC’s award winning series The Voice.

With the economic outlook being unsure, it is important to work with our youth of today, so they can be better prepared for the future. Along with many school districts, we support the efforts of JA as they help bridge the gap of financial literacy with our local students. All proceeds from this VIP event will stay in Snohomish County to provide more classroom programs in our schools. It is significant for the community to invest in the success of our students, which is why we encourage others to join us at the first Radiance in the Shadows event on June 8.

Dr. Marci Larsen is Superintendent of the Mukilteo School District; Shannon Affholter, Vice President, Economic Alliance Snohomish County; Ken Kettler of Tulalip Resort & Spa; and William S. Reith, with Hascal, Sjoholm & Company, PLLC