Junior Achievement program teaches children about the world, starting with themselves

All students at Van Schaick Grade School have participated in the Junior Achievement program this year, learning about different topics and participate in activities.

For the program, which runs for five to six weeks, each classroom has a person from the business world assigned to them who comes to the school. The individuals coming to Van Schaick include people from GE and Softex, among other companies.

Kindergarteners begin the programming with the topic of "ourselves," and then the topics progress to include "our families" for first grade, "our community" for second grade, "our city" for third grade, "our region" for fourth grade and "our nation" for fifth grade.

Each weekly lesson includes something fun and a hands-on project that gets students moving and excited.

For example, Holly Smith's second-grade class "created" a donut shop, while Mr. Francescioni's fifth-grade class worked in teams to "start" new businesses.