INVISTA teams with Junior Achievement and La Porte High School to provide Capital One Finance Park™ Visit
INVISTA has partnered with Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas to provide an eye-opening experience to the students of La Porte High School by funding a visit to a mobile interactive classroom where students experience the entities of creating and balancing a family budget. La Porte High School Economics students will visit Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park on March 31, 2011, while it is stationed at Santa Fe Jr. High, Santa Fe TX.
The Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park™ program begins with four weeks of intensive in-classroom financial education lessons developed by Junior Achievement. Students then have the opportunity to put their newly learned money management skills to the test when they visit the park. This innovative learning environment, houses a mock city where students can experience the challenges of making real-life decisions about their finances, and providing the basic needs and wants of a family.
While at Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park™, the students are assigned fictional jobs, incomes, families and expenses. They are then expected to develop and to manage their own individual budgets. Students are faced with choices about housing, transportation, savings, furnishings, investments, food, entertainment, phone, cable, and charitable contributions―all of the decisions they will ultimately make upon entering adulthood.
“Teaching our students about personal finances, budgeting, and money management is essential to their overall success and contribution to society when they become adults,” said Gary Huffman, INVISTA La Porte site manager. “The Capital One/Junior Achievement Finance Park™ provides a fun and interactive method to teach these critical skills.”
INVISTA has generously funded the student fees, materials, and transportation for the students to attend, as well as calculators for them to use at the event and keep for their future budgeting needs. INVISTA will also be supplying volunteers at the event. INVISTA volunteers will assist the students as they work through their budget, offering their life experiences, and sharing career choices available through various degree plans and post-high school educational options.
“With budget cuts on the rise across the area, a company being able to step forth with thisgenerous support shows the students how their community truly believes in and is investing in their future,” said Thea Curry-Fuson, Operations Manager (Southeast Harris County) for Junior Achievement Southeast Texas. “Partnerships such as this, ensures the students of tomorrow will be offered this unique and rewarding experience as well, better preparing them for their global success.”
About Junior Achievement® (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to inspiring and preparingyoung people to succeed in a global economy. Through a dedicated volunteer network, JuniorAchievement provides in-school and after-school programs for students which focus on threekey content areas: work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Today, 129individual area operations reach more than four million students in the United States, with an additional five million students served by operations in 123 other countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org or http://houston.ja.org.
Thea Curry-Fuson
Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas
Work 713.682.4500, ext 256
Amy Hodges
INVISTA Public Affairs
Work 361.572.2137