PHOTO PROVIDED / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
25 YEARS OF SUPPORT … Rotarian Barb Britenriker told her fellow Rotarians about the Junior Achievement program that the club has supported in the Archbold Area Schools since 2001. Currently, four Rotarians serve on the local JA board of directors — Matt Mello, Wendy Gericke, Trevor Fruth and Barb — plus more than 20 other Rotarians serve as volunteer instructors. Pictured with Barb is Archbold Rotary President Matt Mello.
Archbold Rotarians have helped make Junior Achievement happen in the elementary through high school grades since the program started in 2001.
Barb Britenriker, a Rotarian and JA board member, explained that even before the program officially became part of the Archbold school program, Rotarian Maynard Sauder, then president of Sauder Woodworking, began working in 1999 to bring the JA program to Archbold.
However, Junior Achievement dates back to 1919, when it was organized to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy.
Today, it’s in more than 100 countries and has 150 million living alumni. In northwest Ohio, prior to COVID the JA program was in seven school districts: Archbold, Bryan, Defiance, Findlay, Sandusky, Tiffin and Toledo.
Each offered free, age-appropriate lessons for children in kindergarten through high school.
This year, Archbold JA celebrates its 25th year. Barb said that teaching the JA curriculum is both rewarding and energizing.
She briefly explained the focus of the curriculum at each grade level. In kindergarten, the lessons all focus on “ourselves” to demonstrate the importance of working, earning, saving and helping others.
First grade focuses on “our family” to discuss needs, wants, jobs and earning money. In second grade, it’s “our community” to explore the interdependent roles of workers, the work they perform and how communities work.
The third grade focus on “our city” covers business careers, jobs and money, resources and parts of the city. Fourth grade is “our region.”
It explores the relationship between the natural, human and capital resources found in different regions and how those resources affect the goods and services that can be produced.
“Our nation” is the focus of the fifth grade JA program. It explores the jobs and human resources that businesses need. During sixth grade’s “global marketplace,” the following concepts are included: exports/imports, trade barriers, cultural differences, foreign currencies and exchange rates, and global trade. Eighth grade is “economics for success” and focuses on jobs and job interviews, banking and balancing a checkbook, and insurance and risk.
The high school curriculum explores a variety of personal finance topics, such as: budgets and budgeting, credit and credit scores, fixed and variable expenses, risk and insurance, and types of investments.
Noting the involvement of Archbold area business persons in JA, Barb concluded, “Business community involvement is what makes JA successful!”
She encouraged any Rotarians who were interested in helping as a JA volunteer to contact her.
“It’s a small-time commitment, the curriculum is easy to present, and it’s fun and rewarding,” she said. “But, most of all, it’s what our students need to be successful in today’s economy.”