Joyce Richards
Junior Achievement
May 16, 2006 | by brett | Permalink
Joyce Richards is the President of the Phoenix Junior Achievement office, and was a very interesting individual. She did not attend college, and out of high school worked in the private industry before finding a personal satisfaction in education. She has been at Junior Achievement for ten years, and is very passionate for making a difference in students lives.
Over 59,000 students participated in a Junior Achievement program the past year, where volunteers teach students from K-12 the fundamentals of a free enterprise system. Being a two-time volunteer myself, I enjoyed seeing the work behind the scenes to make this program work.
When we arrived at the JA office, it appeared to be just another ordinary office. When Joyce took us for a tour we had no idea what we were in for when we entered into the door of Exchange City, a program that reached out to over 10,000 students in the Phoenix area. It reminded me of was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory because it really was a city that was run by fifth grade students. They had City Hall where we met the Mayor, but the Judge was out on break where she joined 1/3 of the other students to consume products to make the businesses go round.
Some of the businesses included retail, sports, signs, and food shops, all while the DJ made announcements and the bank was busy cashing paychecks. All of this is to teach students about the free enterprise system.
You can visit the Junior Achievement website at www.jaaz.org
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