Biztown is the place to be for kids to feel like an adult! Imagine Prep Surprise had a field trip on Oct. 1, 2018 and everyone was completely prepared, since students have been studying for the whole first quarter.

Biztown is a place for kids to learn how to run and work a business and community.

“Biztown made me feel like I was grown up and actually working in a business,” sixth grader Mia Hiniker said after the trip.

“It was fun being in charge and making money,” sxith grader Dorien Orstred said.

There are different levels of work, like in real life such as CEO, CFO, sales manager, product development manager and more. The students thought that was interesting and realistic for there to be more than one level of everything. Each level of work got different payroll amounts as well so that also was a lot like real life and how it works in a business.

There was “Employee of The Day,” “Most Qualified Company,” and certificates for paying off your loan.

On the money side of things, JA Biztown did a great job with having a bank, paying bills, paying taxes, and paychecks.

“The Credit card and bank account made it feel so real and we actually got to use it too, which made things even more real,” sixth grader Keila Ramirez said.

The space the students had to work in was a good environment. The CFO had their own desk with a computer to deposit money they made, pay off their bills, and print payrolls. They also had their own printers and a cup of pens and pencils. In restaurants, there were actual tables and menus above the cash register for customers to look at. The bank actually had bank tellers and lines. There was fake money they gave you if you didn’t want to use your card and there were mailboxes in every business that they got bills you had to pay and bills that were paid by other companies.

The TV company, “Cox Communications” was on televisions in every business. They were on live talking about real things, like weather and time. They interviewed CEO’s to talk about their experience at JA Biztown. There also were reporters, so they were on TV all the time.

“It felt so real and cool to be on Tv in front of a real audience,” Hiniker said, who was a reporter at Cox Communications.

“I liked working with my friends and using teamwork to do something adults do,” Hiniker said.

Students got to work with at least five other people, which is good because they need to learn how to work with others in the real world. Teamwork is a great skill to have in working at a business too because some things are hard to do on your own.

JA biztown taught kids how to be a good employee and learn how to run and work a business. Also, how to pay bills, taxes, and work with others in a community and to be a good citizen.