Many central Ohio families know and love JA BizTown, a simulation of Columbus where students get to take on the roles and responsibilities of real jobs in JA BizTown “shops.” Parents, volunteers, educators and students will testify that it is a day of fun, learning, growth and confidence boosting! That’s why we were so disappointed that the COVID-19 pandemic prevented thousands of students from experiencing JA BizTown this school year.

Luckily, our awesome program staff were able to quickly design and publish a digital version - JA BizTown Adventures - that has had more than 2,000 interactions already.

Through the JA BizTown Adventures, students can enter an exciting virtual business world as part of their daily remote learning classrooms, or just for fun. Students can assume five different roles from boss to financial expert to innovator to salesperson to consumer. At the end of the five JA BizTown Adventures, students will have a 360-degree view of how a business works and how money flows through an economy.

“The JA BizTown Adventures was just what our 5th graders needed,” said an educator at Robert Frost Elementary in Westerville. “The students were engaged. They showed up for every meeting in the morning and afternoon and were EXCITED. If distance learning is something that we would have to consider in the future, I would definitely implement this program again.”

At JA, we love that we are no longer constrained by capacity and distance. JA BizTown is limited by the student count per day and number of days a year by school calendars, but now with JA BizTown Adventures, we can deliver the financial literacy, work-readiness and entrepreneurship content to countless students each day online.

As one JA BizTown Adventures CFO put it, “I think Junior Achievement's program is important because as we grow up we are encouraged to work hard at school to be able to do the work. It encouraged me [to] study hard so I can get a good job that I like when I grow up.”

Experience JA BizTown Adventures Today!