AmeriTowne

As a fifth grader, Aaron got to participate in an amazing program that I'd never heard of before: AmeriTowne (I don't know why it's spelled that way).  He and his classmates spent weeks learning all about business, economics, and free enterprise -- including banking, personal finances, careers, government, service, sales, law enforcement, philanthropy...even media.  It was all so very American!

Then, they got to take a day-long field trip to the AmeriTowne center, which is a special facility with a little mini town set up specifically for this program.  They were assigned jobs, checkbooks, and bank accounts and then the "free economy" opened up and they were off to the races.  It was pretty amazing to watch!

Seated in the AmeriTowne square for orientation.

AmeriTowne moms.

Me and my favorite citizen.

Aaron worked as a technician for the energy company.  He had to go around to all the other business to fulfill work orders.  The goal for his company was to bring in enough revenue -- from both service jobs and product sales -- to pay off their bank loan. 

He was such a hard worker!

He even helped design their company logo -- which was finalized and printed by the AmeriTowne marketing agency (also run by students).

Did I mention there was also a hospital?  Some students worked as "doctors" who handed out "sick tickets" which forced the unlucky recipient to take time off of work to go to the hospital until they got better.  There were also policemen who levied fines if you broke any rules, a judge who presided over disputes, a radio station that played song requests and created ads for the various businesses, and a snack shop and grocery store where citizens could buy real snacks on their work breaks.

Here's my sweet citizen being generous with his AmeriTowne money (a portion of the "donations" were given to real charities!).

The future looks bright!

It was pretty amazing how it all came together and how realistic it felt.  And to top it all off, one of the policemen came down with Covid later that day...which means the AmeriTowne adventure also turned into something of a superspreader event.  What could be more American than that?!