Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9310230116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I can't find the attorney's office," the assistant division manager of Appalachian Power Co. mumbled.
"And I don't see the gas company on here, either," said Art Pendleton, vice president of operations for Roanoke Gas.
On a platform to their right, members of Anita Wilson's second-grade class sat at their tiny desks speedily peeling and slapping stickers into place. Onto the map of a make-believe community they stuck brightly colored pictures of a medical clinic, a pizza place and a donut shop. Around them, 60 Roanoke Valley business leaders tried to keep up.
Of course, the second-graders had a head start. They had completed this exercise - part of a five-week Junior Achievement program at Lincoln Terrace Elementary School - before.
Friday, they repeated it for the Roanoke Valley business community in a conference room at the Allstate Insurance Co. to help Junior Achievement recruit more volunteers.
Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia has changed significantly in recent years, President Laurie Gibbons said.
"It's not just the after-school program making widgets anymore," she told representatives from Hardee's, Norfolk Southern Corp., WSLS (Channel 10), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia and other companies.
In fact, the after-school program no longer exists, she told them. Today, Junior Achievement sends volunteers into the classroom during regular school hours. Using more hands-on experiences, it tries to teach children about the economy and their place in it, including lessons on the responsibilities of government and the costs of dropping out of school.
Last year, it branched out for the first time into the elementary schools.
Lincoln Terrace was one of 14 public and private schools in Roanoke and Roanoke County to pilot the community-awareness program. It will spread into more schools this year, extending to Salem, Franklin County and the New River Valley, Gibbons said.
"Everywhere we are," she added.
But to do so, the program needs more volunteers. Hence the breakfast demonstration at Allstate, where business leaders were lured by an offer of free juice, coffee and donuts.
Gibbons told her audience they would not be the only ones called on to help at the elementary level. Unlike programs taught to students in middle and high school, she said, the elementary programs can be taught by almost anybody in the community.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to teach a kindergarten class," she said.
Gibbons said Junior Achievement tailors its elementary school lessons to supplement the state standards of learning introduced at each grade level. First-graders, for example, learn about a family's economic responsibilities, while second-graders focus on the entire community.
Wilson said before these exercises, students who were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up said they wanted to work in fast-food restaurants. After the program, they said they wanted to be doctors, lawyers and veterinarians.
"I learned I could be anything, anybody I want to if I stay in school," said Antonio Browley, one of Wilson's students.
Junior Achievement, which took root in the Roanoke Valley in 1957, moved into the elementary schools because research showed that if you wanted to change a person's attitudes, you had to start early, Gibbons said.
By the age of 15, 16, or 17, "the bad habits are hard to break," said Calvin Curry, market support manager for Allstate and a Junior Achievement volunteer at Lincoln Terrace.
Thanks to Allstate, said Gibbons, Junior Achievement will be able to reach all Lincoln Terrace students this year. The company donated $2,130 to extend the program into all grade levels at that school.
The money will pay for teaching materials, volunteer training and newsletters, among other things, she said.
by CNB