Junior Achievement – Part Two

I love teens. Sometimes I feel like a fireman, running into the fire (teenagers), instead of away from them. I had sponsored a teen group at my church beginning in the 90’s for about 7 years. It was a hoot and very rewarding. I used to think I WAS a patient person. I’m more patient now, yet I am tested every time I am with a group of hormonal pre-adults.

My next foray into the fire was Junior Achievement four years ago. For the last two years, I have been volunteering at Franklin High School off Rainer Avenue in Seattle. The school is great, the teacher, Barbara Lynch, is great and the kids are greater. The school year that ended spring 2008 was my first tour of duty, teaching “Success Skills”. I taught the first two periods in the morning each week for about 8 weeks. Ugh! Joy! The following Fall, Barbara threw me a curve ball.

“Pete, do you want to do Junior Achievement again?” she asked, leading the lamb to slaughter.

“Sure,” I said energetically.

I’m sure there was a gleam in her eye as she said, “Great, you can do the ‘Economics’ class.”

I was too stunned to respond coherently. “Yeah but . . . yeah but” was the only thing I could manage to blubber for what seemed like an eternity.

“But Barbara, I never studied Economics in college”, I said franticly, certain I would escape her clutches. No chance, Buster!

She already had me “inked in” for the first 2 periods again. Oh joy!

“But Barbara . . .” was my disregarded cry. “You’ll do fine. Just read the book. I have the slides for you. You’ll do fine”, were the last words I heard before she threw the switch.

Bear in mind that was the fall of 2008. The beginning of a lackluster economic period for the good ole’ USA. It’s hard enough to talk about Economics in “good times”. Now I had to explain the economic chaos we are facing? More joy! The fact of the matter was I did “fine” just like Barbara predicted. I learned economics one chapter ahead of the kids. Barbara’s slides were helpful and I had the audacity to edit and add to them. I added, my optimistic spin as the Wall Street roller coaster plunged and screamed into a severe recession. “Don’t worry the fall won’t kill you, but the sudden stop will.” And “Kids, your piggy bank is safe because it is NOT in a BANK or in the STOCK MARKET.”

What I learned, besides some very basic economic principles, was a new vocabulary for theories I already understood. I learned to tap dance around the Bush administration’s economic policies. I learned economics isn’t that bad when you can explain it in plain English. I had a ball. I loved every week. I looked forward to doing my homework, previewing and editing the slides and presenting all I knew, as well as I understood it, without any pretence of authority.

I would strongly encourage you to volunteer for Junior Achievement. It might be an average of 5 hours a week, including prep time. The material is already prepared. You just need to read one chapter ahead of the kids. You DON’T have to do Economics or any other scary subject. There is a huge curriculum from which to choose.

Contact: Melanie Hess at melanie@jawashington.org or 206-296-2611. She will be glad to hear from you. Contact her now, before the school year begins, so you can get a better choice of assignments.

Join me and jump into the fire. I’m going back for more this Fall: “Success Skills”, “Economics” and whatever Barbara wants to throw at me. She can’t scare me. I’m teaching teenagers!!

Please check out the Junior Achievement of Washington site at http://www.jawashington.org/