Submitted photo Pictured here are a group of sixth-graders from New Ulm Middle School. These are just a few of the students from the area that will get to go to JA BizTown because of the New Ulm Foundation’s grant to Junior Achievement.

NEW ULM — Thanks to a recent grant from New Ulm Area Foundation, New Ulm area sixth-grade students will continue to learn important financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship lessons this coming school year. The foundation made a $6,000 grant to allow the sixth-graders to take part the in JA BizTown program.

JA BizTown is a 12,000-square-foot simulated city in St. Paul. Several weeks of classroom learning culminates in a day-long visit to this experiential learning lab where students become adults for a day. By working in one of 18 JA BizTown shops, students learn what it takes to run a successful business, manage a debit card and checking account and work as a team. Volunteers are paired with small groups of students to help them make important business and personal finance decisions in their assigned JA BizTown shop. Through daily lessons, hands-on activities and active participation in this simulated economy, students develop a strong understanding of the relationship between what they learn in school and how it can be applied in the “real world.”

New Ulm Area Foundation has been a strong supporting of the program in the past. New Ulm Area Foundation helps to enhance the quality of life in the community by providing grants to non-profit organizations focused on the arts, education, economic development, and historic preservation. Since its inception in 1987, NUAF has granted over $850,000. See www.NewUlmAreaFoundation.org for more information.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Junior Achievement relies on community support for funding. JA programs are provided to local schools at no cost. Learn more at www.jaum.org.