In the Spotlight
By
Mary Allen and Clayton Gould, Hypertherm, Inc. Associates At
the beginning of the Junior Achievement program, neither Mary
nor I had any idea what to expect. We were fairly certain that
this was not going to be anything like a distributor training
session, and were not quite sure how the kids would relate to
us. We will both fully admit that there was a slight bit of nervousness
mixed with excitement the first day we went to the Hartland Elementary
School to meet the 19 students of the 4th grade class. Once there
however, we were greeted with unmatched enthusiasm and a true
desire to learn.
The Hartland 4th grade class is comprised of 19 unique and wonderful
students with a full range of interests and personalities. It
was quite clear from the beginning, however, that they all shared
one common goal, the goal to learn. Once both of us had met with
the teacher, Mrs. Betsy McClure, we got the opportunity to meet
with the class and introduce ourselves and the program. The kids
were instantly excited and ready to go. They were actually disappointed
when we told them that this visit was only to get acquainted and
we weren’t starting until the following Thursday. Thanks
to a grant form the e-cares Seed Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable
Foundation, and in cooperation with Junior Achievement of NH,
Hypertherm, Inc. and the Tuck School of Business, UVBEP was
able to deliver the Junior Achievement
curriculum to 422 students at 11 schools in April and May, 2003.
It’s
all elementary when it comes to business!
Our module began with a focus on the three different resources
types: natural, human, and capital. We looked at how different
types of resources are found in various regions, and that businesses
often have to buy and transport resources from far away to make
their products. Next, we explored how businesses use many different
types of resources to make products. We had a very good discussion
about the differences between a good and a service and the different
types of resources that are needed for each. One of the really
fun activities that we did was to break down a final product (cereal)
into a value chain of all the resources and steps required to
produce it. Each student represented one piece of the chain and
in the end we had all the students line up in a row (even Mrs.
McClure). Toward the end of the 6-week module, we "graduated"
up to discussing income vs. expenses and how businesses measure
success. We wrapped up the instruction with a game (very similar
to monopoly) in which the students had to run a business and encounter
expenses and revenue and once finished, measure if they had a
profit or loss. We are happy to report that everyone was able
to make a profit. We even introduced them to taxes and explained
that the government uses this money to support such things as
schools and roads. Yes, this was a depiction of a real life business.
In the end, we all had a great time to together over the 6 weeks
and all of us are kind of sad to see it end (even though the kids
are aware that summer vacation is fast approaching). There were
so many rewarding parts of the program for us that it is hard
to focus on only one. The kids sang us their "thank-you"
song many times (most likely irritating the class next door) and
actually presented us with a gift, on the last day, of things
they had brought in that were produced in Vermont. Mrs. McClure
was extremely happy with the program and told us that she will
most definitely bring it in again next year and has been promoting
it throughout the school. However, the most rewarding part doesn’t
come from any gesture or gift. It comes from the experience of
expanding a child’s horizon and working along beside them
to help them understand the real basics of how things are made
in this world and all the resources required to do so. One thing
that both of us mentioned in reflection was how engaged all the
students were in the material and their desire to learn. We would
both like to thank the Upper Valley Business and Education Partnership
and Hypertherm for giving us this chance to experience the true
enjoyment of teaching these students. We would also like to take
this opportunity to invite anyone who is at all remotely interested
in doing this to ask us about it and definitely get involved next
year. It was a very rewarding experience that neither of us will
forget for quite some time.
