Personal Finance students at Arrowhead High School took a scheduled field trip to Junior Achievement Finance Park in Milwaukee, WI.  JA Finance Park is a simulated town where students, with their business teachers, simulate lives.  The students receive real-life scenarios and go to 19 businesses, throughout the park.  Business includes, like clothing, insurance, stocks, and others.  The goal of the day is to stay in budget and provide for your family, without overspending.

Samantha Dean, a senior, says, “After attending JA Finance Park, I feel that I didn’t improve my skills of budgeting at all.  We had been working on a project with almost the same material that we worked with at the finance park which didn’t challenge our skills or test our abilities.”

Dean says, “Overall, I was disappointed with the finance park although one good story came out of it.  Upon arrival, there was an announcement that now that we were in, there was no way to get out.  The doors were locked and armed and there was no escape.  This was quite humorous and was pretty much the only enjoyable aspect of the trip.”

John Widish, a senior, says, “When we went to JA Finance Park we knew a lot of the information already, since that’s what we learned in class.  I think it is meant for younger students rather than seniors in high school.  It was kind of pointless because it was what we learned the semester all crammed into one day.”

Nate Sarinske, a senior, says, “The JA Finance Park field trip wasn’t exactly pointless, but I feel like they could’ve made it more realistic.  They didn’t give us a lot of choices on what our ‘life’ was like, and the park.”

This was the second trip made to Junior Achievement Finance Park for Arrowhead High School.  The first trip to JA Finance Park was last year, second semester.

Students last year felt the same, but enjoyed the idea of the park more than the students this year.