PARISH – Middle School students from Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Central School District recently spent a day operating WCNY’s Enterprise America City, an exciting hands-on program where students apply STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), financial and civic literacy skills they have learned in class.
In the program, the students run the “city’s” 14 businesses and City Hall, becoming business entrepreneurs and employees, consumers and citizens.
Occupational roles the students practiced included bankers, utility workers, engineers, salespersons, mechanics and more.
Imitating real life as much as possible, the student citizens elected a mayor, managed their time and income and even purchased their lunch with their Enterprise America dollars earned.
They applied for loans, followed municipal laws and paid for health insurance and taxes.
Prior to this culminating project-based learning event, the middle schoolers took aptitude tests in class to determine where they would best fit in positions within the city based on their strengths and interests.
After their visit, students write about their job performance and analyze their experience in business operations.
The Enterprise America experience provides students with a broader economic perspective and an opportunity to practice 21st century skills, teamwork and collaboration, aligning with the curriculum that the students take and learn through family consumer science in school.
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