For some people, seeing Ford automobiles driving down the highway might not immediately conjure up thoughts of education, running a business, or voting for mayor. However, for the fifth-grade students at Thomas Edison Elementary in Antioch, Ford is the reason they got the chance to exactly that.
Ford Motor Company’s Nashville office funded the opportunity for Thomas Edison’s fifth graders to attend Junior Achievement’s JA BizTown™, a hands-on experiential learning center that teaches students how to open and operate a business, pay off a loan to the bank, hold a job, earn a paycheck and become productive citizens in the community. Some even get the chance to run for political office.
Ford’s partnership with Junior Achievement (JA) provided 110 students the chance to visit JA BizTown. Dec. 5 was officially proclaimed Ford Motor Company Day in JA BizTown. Dave LeBreux, an employee of Ford and a member of JA’s Board of Directors, was on hand to announce the sponsorship. LeBreux also received a key to JA BizTown from the town’s mayor, a fifth-grade student, elected by his peers at Thomas Edison to serve JA BizTown.
JA BizTown is a 9,000 square foot indoor mini-city complete with 14 types of businesses, sidewalks, trees, park benches and a waterfall. After a six-week teacher-led in-class program, the students visit JA headquarters in Nashville to run the town for one day and experience the real-life applications of social studies, math, language arts, economics, government and technology. The program is aimed at 4th-6th grade students throughout Middle Tennessee.
Historically, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were associates and friends. Ford credited Edison for the encouragement to mass-produce automobiles. This former friendship was reignited by Ford Motor Company’s sponsorship of the namesake school in JA BizTown, inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs.
