TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – University of Arizona students walked into Davis-Romero Bilingual Elementary ready to teach.
“They’re all very tall compared to me,” said Paula Villegas, a student at Davis-Romero.
The U of A volunteers, who study leadership through Blue Chip Leadership Experience, taught lessons on personal finance and entrepreneurship. They covered how to be a good community member, what kind of jobs exist in the community, and how to save money, said Hannah Meltzer, the Blue Chip Leadership Experience team leader.
“We’ve been learning about competition, like when you start a store, if you have to lower your prices or get better qualities and stuff,” Paula said.
Volunteers inspire students
Junior Achievement of Arizona sets the curriculum. Volunteers teach it.
“Sometimes they may not have adults in their lives that work in some of the fields that the volunteers have or study something they did,” said Adrian Ramos, the Junior Achievement of Arizona K-12 Education Director.
JAA has been teaching these lessons for 60 years. Volunteers reach about 176,000 students every year. That’s 12,000 students a year in Pima County.
“So that by the time they actually do start making money, they have these things they can refer back to and start making those informed decisions, so ultimately they have that economic mobility as they get older,” Ramos said.
JAA has more than 7,800 volunteers around the state. Schools interested in the program can reach out to Junior Achievement of Arizona.
Isabela Lisco is a Report for America corps member covering education solutions for 13 News. Her position is made possible through funding from Report for America and the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund.
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