Partnering to Encourage Smart Choices & Entrepreneurship

By DAVID SOLLARS & ASHLEY CHAREST

An understanding of consumer finance, making wise education and career decisions, and the effective use of financial tools are often the hallmark of financial and personal success; their absence can explain anxiety, financial hardship and lack of opportunity. Education and smart-money skills learned at an early age pay dividends for an entire lifetime.

Two organizations in our community work together to help students learn the ins-and-outs of money and how they can develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

PARTNERING IN ECONOMIC SUCCESS

The Washburn University School of Business (B-School) has long partnered with Junior Achievement (JA) of Kansas. JA is the world’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. Each year, JA of Kansas reaches over 28,000 students throughout the state of Kansas with nearly 12,000 of those students from Topeka and Shawnee County. These programs are provided through hands-on learning experiences that focus on financial literacy, entrepreneurship and work readiness.

JA programs supplement schools’ curricula by providing important life skills, such as how to manage money, succeed in the workplace, or start a business that creates jobs. Working with schoolteachers, the JA classes are staffed by community volunteers who serve as mentors and provide relevant, hands-on experiencesthat give students from kindergarten through 8th grade knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness
and entrepreneurship. Over the years the B-School has provided numerous classroom volunteers to support the JA programs.

PREPARING FOR COLLEGE AND CAREER

JA programs aren’t just limited to K-8. For the last two years the B-School has participated in the JA Personal Finance Symposium, an event that was offered to all 11 area high schools. The symposium focuses on five areas: income, budgeting, savings, credit and debt, and consumer protection and will have over 500 students enrolled this year. Being exposed to smart financial decision-making skills at a young age will plant seeds that hopefully will result in positive outcomes as young people become adults and are faced with so many opportunities to make either good or bad choices about education, careers, and their personal finances.

JA has set up a Virtual Career Fair that allows students and community members to interact with local businesses, view educational videos on career subjects such as interviewing and resume writing, and explore college opportunities. Each year, JA also publishes and distributes the “College and Career Guide” that provides information about careers, wages and salaries, and options for education beyond high school, including costs, scholarships and financial aid.

HONORING TODAY’S LEADERS

The B-School has also long- served as the home of the Topeka Business Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, started in 2003, now has over 80 laureates, many of them Ichabod Alumni or leaders in our community, such as Washburn President Jerry Farley.

This year’s class features both Jim Klausman and the late Christel Marquardt, both Washburn alumni, former Washburn Board of Regents members and long-time supporters of the institution. The laureate class also includes business leaders Butch Eaton, Dan Chavez, and Mike Kiley.

SUPPORTING YOUTH

In our new, ever-changing economy, JA programs and volunteer role models will be needed more
than ever to help our young people navigate through the many challenges they will face in a different economic environment. Our students are resilient and ready to take on these challenges. JA of Kansas, along with our volunteer role models, will be there to help provide them with the tools and skills they will need
to prepare to succeed in a global economy.

JA is supported by private organizations, businesses and individual donors who sponsor events or make a donation. JA financial supporters and the hundreds of classroom volunteers make these programs happen.