Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes Helps Fourth Graders Run School Wide Flea Market

Fourth grade students at Wealthy Elementary put on a school wide Flea Market to sell their homemade goods. Students have been learning about economics in their Social Studies classes, along with Junior Achievement (JA) volunteers coming to the classroom once a week to help teach them about entrepreneurship and business. JA volunteers helped students come up with business plans that included the product, appropriate costs, and the number of items needing to sell to make a profit. Students used these plans to sell items at the market. After the Flea Market, students discussed the effects of competition as well as quality control. 

Students had a lot to say about what they learned through Junior Achievement programming and the Flea Market event, "I learned how to be an entreprenuer. I also learned how much money I needed to make and how to price my goods to make a profit," said one fourth grade student, David. "JA helped me in business to make sure my customers were happy," said Tripp. Drew, another student, said, "It felt like every minute of JA I was working toward making another dollar for my Flea Market business." 

The proceeds from each business supports the students trip to Mackinac Island in the spring or is donated to a charity of the children's choice. It is another example of how Junior Achievement brings real-world learning to students. 

About Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes, Inc.

Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes is the nation’s 23rd largest JA chapter and an area office of JA USA, the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. The organization offers programs to help prepare young people in Mid, West, and North Michigan for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and are empowered to own their economic success. Visit www.westmichigan.ja.org for more information.