Lincoln School proposes Junior Achievement program

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

April 30, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Bemidji's Lincoln Elementary School students have already established their own business that produces business cards, mailing labels and school events calendars at a reduced rate, but the program is going to take another step toward involving school curriculum next year, says Principal Nancy Allen.

Allen, and other program participants, approached the Bemidji School Board Tuesday asking for support to begin a Junior Achievement program at Lincoln next fall.

The school district has been awarded a $2,000 sponsorship to establish the after-school program, and Allen said a community advisory board has been formed to seek interested business people willing to volunteer time to present the Junior Achievement curriculum to elementary students.

According to Gary Sorenson, a program coordinator, they sought the School Board's approval so efforts to gather grant money and community volunteers would seem more legitimate.

"Junior Achievement is a 75-year-old, volunteer-based, non-profit organization that educates students about business, economics and life skills needed to be successful," according to information provided by Allen. It is the oldest and largest non-profit organization of its kind in America.

There is a different program targeted to students in each age category -- elementary, middle school and high school -- and program participants are visiting other schools in the district to gauge interest levels, Sorenson said.

The program would begin next fall at Lincoln, and later at other schools if there is a desire, he said.

According to Allen, community volunteers involved in business are asked to teach a one-hour session each week for five weeks, and at the conclusion of the five weeks students receive a certificate for participating.

The program costs the district $80 per classroom to operate, which is the cost of the curriculum materials used by the teaching volunteers, she said.

A bonus outcome of the Junior Achievement program is that it follows the district's K-12 social studies curriculum exactly, said Dave Bucher, district director of instruction.

"It adds importance and it adds relevance and it adds hands-on learning experiences to what we're trying to teach," he said.

Allen said the program will not operate without volunteers because they are needed to teach the program as are donations needed to fund the program because the district cannot afford to.

"This is one more way to get the community involved in the classroom," she said. "If there's enough Junior Achievement activity in this area, the regional office in Minneapolis will provide a person to coordinate the activities for Bemidji. They might even have an interest in establishing a branch office here if more interest develops in rural Minnesota."