Over the course of five weeks, students from East Ridge High School took on the Junior Achievement High School Heroes Service Project and gave the young students at East Ridge Elementary an image of what they too can accomplish when they grow older. The High School Heroes Service Project requires the high school students to share the JA lessons with kindergarten through 2nd grade classes in a local elementary school. The kids were responsible for training, preparing and finally teaching the lessons to the younger students.
Each High School Student was assigned a classroom in which they were responsible for completing five lessons. The students both young and teens worked together to invest in one another. The elementary school students learned the basics of money, decision making and taxes, while the high school students learned presentation skills, planning ahead, public speaking and civic leadership.
Kindergarten teacher Janna Jones said, “The students seemed to be very receptive having older peers teach them about money, spending and saving. Every week, our students were excited for Thursdays because they knew they'd get to see their Junior Achievement friends and learn about money.”
Juan Moreno, principal at East Ridge Elementary, said, "Junior Achievement has given us an opportunity to form a lasting relationship with the high school to which most of our students will feed into if they remain in the East Ridge community. The student leaders that volunteered their time and taught some worthwhile life lessons to our students did an amazing job of bringing proactive and meaningful lessons to life for our young students to connect to. Our teachers were amazed by the patience and care that our high school students brought to their lessons and it was heartwarming to think that some of these leaders might have realized that teaching might be in their future because of this experience. We are grateful for this new partnership and relationship and we would welcome any future opportunities to synergize with the leaders at East Ridge High school and Junior Achievement."
They mentored over 520 students.
