My Day Volunteering at JA Biztown Atlanta

What would you do if your job gave you volunteering days? Sage software gives me five volunteering days a year, but I wasn’t sure how to use them.

I do volunteer at Meals on Wheels from time to time but it only takes me a couple of hours on Saturday mornings. What could I do with full days designed to helping the community? The good thing is Sage is also involved in the community through the Sage Foundation. That’s a great way to find opportunities such as spending a day at the Junior Achievement Center of Georgia.

Before I tell you more about my day, here’s why volunteering matters.

Why volunteer?

Giving back gives you the ultimate sense of purpose.

Having the luxury to do so means you’re doing well in life compare to most people. You have the chance to impact people beyond yourself.

No need to be “rich” to give back. Giving time back is more meaningful than giving your money. Yes, you’re busy. You’re working on getting a degree or your next promotion, but soon you’ll realize investing in other people is like investing in yourself. You will grow as a person, educated about what’s going on around you.

You will also recognize you could be one of those people you’re helping today, and vice versa. It doesn’t take much, a few wrong decisions or events can turn a life around. What if you didn’t pass that test, or lost a parent at a young age?

It only feels natural to do what you wish other people would do for you once you see it from their perspective.

What’s the Junior Achievement Center of Georgia?

The Junior Achievement Center of Georgia is a way to redesign the student experience to prepare today’s youth for tomorrow’s economy. In partnership with the education and business communities, JA is transforming the student experience by bringing relevance, authenticity and application into everyday learning to energize students around academics and their future possibilities.

Students not only discover what it means to be a professional citizen of the community, but also get a chance to experience the abundance of opportunities available within their city.

A typical day at JA Biztown!

Presentation and Training

After the usual 8 am coffee, the workers gave the volunteers a presentation going through the schedule of the day.  It was overwhelming at first. The day was about to be packed for these kids! Running a business is a big challenge , even as a one-day activity.

At 10 am, the students from Crawford Long Middle School got off of the bus to join us and watch a short movie about a kid, just like them, waking up and turning into a young dynamic adult starting his dream job for a day.

Time to introduce the roles

Before sending the kids to their stores for the day, the MC (Master of Ceremony/social worker) introduced the roles they will fulfill:

The Mayor: Atlanta’s Mayor Kassim Reid is so busy, one student was designated to be the Mayor of JA Biztown. If you want to know more about this role, watch some of those hilarious speeches from across the country.

Executives: Each team of students includes a CEO and a CFO. With great power comes great responsibilities, and you can tell the position was a bit much for some of them. Being the most solicited kids of the group, they were glad to have adult supervision.

How to pay a bill? How to write a check? How to pay your employees? As volunteers, we helped them when things were too confusing by referring to the instructions displayed on the CEO’s iPad, but also by sharing our personal experiences of the real world.

Other roles: The AT&T team I was helping included a B2B person and a B2C person. I have to be honest and say that even though I understand the concept, I didn’t really get what they were supposed to do in this simulation.

Most of the other roles were more interested in playing games on the real phones of the fake store. The Retail Sales Consultants spent more time on Subway Surfers than their marketing plan. So what do you do when you have 20 minutes to come up with something and realize you’re not allowed to sell the phones. What else could we sell?

Turns out the kids were pretty innovative. They pulled out a big piece of paper, used a bright red marker and turned that into a billboard that read “Play 2 games for $3, 3 games for $5 and get a free wristband!”

That’s some pretty strong advertising right there! Our store became one of the busiest one for the day. The collaboration between the kids started coming out, and their personalities too!

The B2B girl even went as far as saying ” Pay me first, then you play. I’m all about my money!” Business-minded you said?

Tweets of the Day

These kids were amazing today! Thanks @SageNAmerica @SKellyCEO for opening a #SageFoundation store @JA_USA pic.twitter.com/pZuGRPW9Qs

— Romu Gaboriau (@romugaboriau) September 15, 2016

Getting our assignments for JA Biztown. It’s gonna be a great day! #sagefoundation pic.twitter.com/rL5REuPgUw

— Mark Redstrom (@mark_redstrom) September 15, 2016

Kids are in the house … let’s do this thing! #SageFoundation pic.twitter.com/FvqaOBSQM6

— Mark Redstrom (@mark_redstrom) September 15, 2016

Getting prepped for a great day of volunteering with some great kids #SageFoundation pic.twitter.com/qAWv9pRcq5

— A Zabala (@AZSage1715) September 15, 2016

Sage colleagues volunteering today at Junior Achievement of Georgia #SageFoundation pic.twitter.com/OJbeLZfAPx

— Sage NA (@SageNAmerica) September 15, 2016

Looking forward to unveiling of the #SageFoundation Creation Station @JA_USA later today! pic.twitter.com/Chhbfkxb1W

— Mark Redstrom (@mark_redstrom) September 15, 2016