Junior Achievement of Arizona recently completed a renovation at its JA BizTown, a student-sized town built to engage 4th, 5th and 6th graders in personal and business finances through simulation-based learning. Meta (formerly Facebook) is one of the new businesses where students can experience economic concepts, learn workplace skills, manage personal and business finances, and more. They recently held a ribbon cutting at their new space in BizTown.

Meta said, “We broke ground on its highly advanced five-building, data center campus in Mesa in August 2021, to support its technologies used by billions of people around the world every day and is committed to being a community partner where they operate.”

Students first take part in a series of classroom lessons where they learn about working in and being consumers in today’s world. They create business plans, calculate operating costs, design a marketing campaign, apply for jobs, vote for city officials, and explore careers. Then, they put their skills to work by becoming employees for a day in one of our two JA BizTowns, on-site learning facilities that feature more than 40 different businesses and industries.

During their time at JA BizTown, students operate a simulated economy and take on the challenge of running businesses. They get hands-on experience as both employees and consumers, paying rent, taxes and utilities, buying advertising from the radio station, conducting TV interviews, purchasing insurance, depositing paychecks and buying other business’ products, handling customer service, and more.

“The students get to see what it’s like to be an adult, making tough decisions about where to spend money and understanding the responsibilities of being an employee or business owner,” said Anne Landers, VP of strategic impact at Junior Achievement of Arizona. “Our partners in JA BizTown do such a great job bringing the experience to life and helping kids imagine what’s possible for their futures.”