October 24, 2019

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BizTown Program Background:
On October 24, 2019, representatives from Lindenwood University joined with Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate Lindenwood’s new, three-year sponsorship of Junior Achievement’s BizTown program. Lindenwood joins the ranks of other prominent sponsors, such as Bayer, MasterCard, Ameren, and First Bank. BizTown is an experiential learning program for 4th-6th grade students, educating them about decision-making, work ethics, business, economics, and entrepreneurship. 

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BizTown is the perfect place for Lindenwood to foster its mission of Real Experience and Real Success. As a BizTown sponsor, Lindenwood developed a new multimedia activity and role-playing experience for the BizTown university space. As part of the role-playing experience, students will come to the BizTown “Lindenwood University” to receive training that leads to higher income at their BizTown jobs – helping them learn the valuable benefits of investing in education and lifelong learning. 

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In BizTown, students role-play as workers and engage in various business and learning activities, building on lessons taught in the classroom for several weeks prior to the BizTown field trip experience. Approximately 17,000 students from local schools will participate in BizTown this school year alone, along with hundreds of teachers and volunteers.

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According to Grant Black, associate director of the Economic Education Center, the Lindenwood BizTown project has been an extremely successful collaboration between the Hammond Institute for Free Enterprise, the School of Education, and the entire Lindenwood community. "This is a great opportunity for the community to see the Lindenwood experience firsthand and for us to support education in our community in an exciting, hands-on way.”
 

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony:

The ceremony opened with a welcome by Lori Jacob, president of Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis. President Porter then expressed Lindenwood’s excitement to partner together to make a difference in young students’ lives. The formal ribbon-cutting ceremony took place in front of the BizTown Lindenwood University.

 

Representatives from Lindenwood attending the ceremony included John Porter, Lindenwood president, and his wife, Beverly; Stefani Schuette, chief of staff; John Hammond, member of the Board of Trustees; Roger Ellis, dean of the Plaster School of Business & Entrepreneurship; Howard Wall, director of the Hammond Institute; Tawni Ferrarini, associate director of the Hammond Institute; Grant Black, associate director of the Economic Education Center; Mary Gismegian, assistant professor of teacher education; Michelle Whitacre, assistant professor of teacher education; Tonya Thompson, assistant professor of library media and technology; Matt Adams, coordinator of budget and development administration for the Hammond Institute; and Jami McDermott, coordinator for the Economic Education Center. 

 

Students from Ames Visual and Performing Arts Elementary and Oak Hill Elementary participated in BizTown during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.  Afterwards, Lindenwood representatives stayed to observe students engaged in the BizTown experience and witnessed the magic happening in BizTown’s Lindenwood University.