By Zeke Dillingham
January 22, 2020

BizTown was held on January 13, and my brothers and I diligently prepared for it in December. This Junior Achievement project teaches children both how to correctly use money and to have fun while working. For three Mondays we tirelessly woke up, drove to Kernersville, had meetings, and discussed the values of economics. Patiently, we waited and were extremely excited for the big day.

Finally, we took the long, rainy trek to Charlotte, where I worked as a teller at Woodforest Bank. My co-workers were Aiden, who was CFO, Joel, who was CEO, and Abbey, who was marketing manager. As BizTown began, there was a massive line of people at the bank. When a citizen came up, I would ask them for their account number, update their bank account, and give them a coin for a drink at Chick fil-A. I then went to use the money I had worked hard to earn and spent it on a service called the Plane-Flying Simulator. After our long day of work, we went home.

The BizTown participants learned concepts such as work-readiness, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. We also democratically voted on who would become mayor, whose job was to make sure every business ran smoothly. At the event, Woodforest was even voted the best company! BizTown helped me learn the importance of hard work and money, and I look forward to going back next year.