How two 10 year-old entrepreneurs opened my eyes

Recently, I participated in a "JA in a Day" program, sponsored by Junior Achievement. For an entire morning, my coworkers and other volunteers invaded a local elementary school and led individual classrooms in lessons, games and exercises designed to teach them about small business and entrepreneurship. To be honest, when I signed up for the event, I thought it would be a fun way to spend a morning. I have always loved children (I have five of my own) and my silly humor is perfect for the prepubescent set. I expected the kids would be mostly engaged and mostly well-behaved, and happy for the distraction from the routine. I could not have underestimated the children (or Junior Achievement's impact) more. I have never before been a donor to JA, but I am now.

After 2 or 3 hours of preparation, my two co-teachers and I were placed in a fifth-grade class with 29 students from various social and ethnic backgrounds. To our pleasant surprise, the kids were uniformly excited, engaged, attentive, well-behaved and wonderful. Almost all had participated in JA in a Day during prior years. But what struck me was that two of the 10 year-olds had started their own businesses after being inspired by JA.

My employer has a number of lines of business, but one thing it has done consistently for the past 100 years is print checks -- checks for businesses, checks for organizations, checks for individuals. But check usage is declining as electronic payment methods continue to expand, especially among young people. So we had little hope of any affirmative responses when my teaching partner asked, "Does anyone know what a check is?" Almost all the hands shot up in the room. Then she asked, mostly in jest, "Does anyone have their own checks?" Two hands shot up. Incredulous, I asked them, "Do you really have your own checks? Why?" The girl responded that she had her own sewing business and needed checks for fabric, thread and sewing machine needles. The boy responded that he had his own pet sitting business and needed checks to buy treats and other supplies for his charges.

Astounded, I asked them, "What made you decide to start your own businesses?" They both responded "JA!"

With the constant outcry for more small business and more entrepreneurship as the engines of our economy, we need more JA in our schools. Please join me in supporting your local Junior Achievement, through volunteering or cash donations.