Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce Director of Special Events, Betsy Bracken, volunteered to participate in the Chamber's "Business Matters" program, lending her professional skills to educate 5th graders on economic and business issues.
"Business Matters" is a Chamber program geared toward matching community leaders and business professionals with organizations seeking to educate young adults on economic, civic and business issues and values. Generally, a candidate is chosen from the Chamber's pool of members however, Bracken, decided she would like to get involved first-hand, actively involving the Chamber and exemplifying the true meaning of leadership.
"I think if we're the sponsors for the program we should be a significant part of it," Bracken said. "Our President, Ted Owen, and Executive Vice President, Toni Padron, thought this would be a wonderful display of leadership and community involvement, not to mention and exceptional opportunity to educate those who may one day be responsible for overseeing our city."
Bracken chose to participate in Junior Achievement's Our Nation program. Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization founded in 1919 financed by businesses, foundations and individuals. The organization offers programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, providing courses to inspire and educate young people on the value of free enterprise, business and economics.
Our Nation, a course designed for 5th grade students, focuses on business operations and economic issues in the United States. In this in-depth program, students are able to role play while learning about business ownership, interviewing for jobs, business production, creating product advertisements and conducting an annual stockholders' meeting. The purpose of each course is to improve the quality of the students' futures and create awareness of the vast opportunities available to them.
Bracken was assigned to Pacific Rim Elementary School to serve as an educator for Megan Smith's 5th grade classroom. Once a week for five weeks, Bracken would spend a little over an hour teaching the students about business. The curriculum for the course is outlined below.
Week One: Focused on the three forms of business, sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.
Week Two: Explained business resources (particularly human resources), discussed job applications and conducted mock interviews.
Week Three: Learned production methods (unit, mass and batch), students were able to experiment with different production methods in a project.
Week Four: Focused on advertising. Examples included effective techniques and types of ads. Students designed their own ads.
Week Five: Introduction to entrepreneurs, how to write a business plan, what's involved, etc.
There are several different programs that Junior Achievement provides. To learn more about how to get involved with this organization or the Chamber's "Business Matters" program please call the Carlsbad Chamber at (760) 931-8400.
"Business Matters" is a Chamber program geared toward matching community leaders and business professionals with organizations seeking to educate young adults on economic, civic and business issues and values. Generally, a candidate is chosen from the Chamber's pool of members however, Bracken, decided she would like to get involved first-hand, actively involving the Chamber and exemplifying the true meaning of leadership.
"I think if we're the sponsors for the program we should be a significant part of it," Bracken said. "Our President, Ted Owen, and Executive Vice President, Toni Padron, thought this would be a wonderful display of leadership and community involvement, not to mention and exceptional opportunity to educate those who may one day be responsible for overseeing our city."
Bracken chose to participate in Junior Achievement's Our Nation program. Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization founded in 1919 financed by businesses, foundations and individuals. The organization offers programs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, providing courses to inspire and educate young people on the value of free enterprise, business and economics.
Our Nation, a course designed for 5th grade students, focuses on business operations and economic issues in the United States. In this in-depth program, students are able to role play while learning about business ownership, interviewing for jobs, business production, creating product advertisements and conducting an annual stockholders' meeting. The purpose of each course is to improve the quality of the students' futures and create awareness of the vast opportunities available to them.
Bracken was assigned to Pacific Rim Elementary School to serve as an educator for Megan Smith's 5th grade classroom. Once a week for five weeks, Bracken would spend a little over an hour teaching the students about business. The curriculum for the course is outlined below.
Week One: Focused on the three forms of business, sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation.
Week Two: Explained business resources (particularly human resources), discussed job applications and conducted mock interviews.
Week Three: Learned production methods (unit, mass and batch), students were able to experiment with different production methods in a project.
Week Four: Focused on advertising. Examples included effective techniques and types of ads. Students designed their own ads.
Week Five: Introduction to entrepreneurs, how to write a business plan, what's involved, etc.
There are several different programs that Junior Achievement provides. To learn more about how to get involved with this organization or the Chamber's "Business Matters" program please call the Carlsbad Chamber at (760) 931-8400.