On Wednesday November 15, 20 employees from Host Hotels & Resorts volunteered with Junior Achievement to help eighth grade students from a local middle school learn about fiscal responsibility. The visit to JA Finance Park in Landover, MD—a reality-based mock city where students put their budgeting skills to the test—is the capstone field trip for their classroom curriculum. 

Volunteers from Host helped take 78 students through real-life scenarios where they were assigned a career, salary, credit score, debt, family and financial obligations. Students were then given a tablet computer and time to research various expenses such as a home mortgage, car, clothes, groceries and insurance before preparing their budgets. After budgets were set, students visited each “storefront” to go shopping and pay for everyday expenses, including thinking about savings and investments as well as unexpected monthly costs. Guided by our employee volunteers, the simulation helps students understand the consequences of their spending choices as they work toward a balanced budget, and allows them to experience the challenges of making real-life financial decisions that will lay the foundation for how they manage their financial responsibilities in the future. 

At the end of the day, it was a valuable and memorable learning experience for both volunteers and students. Karen Schramm, service team event lead, said, “I enjoy volunteering at JA Finance Park because it’s an opportunity to work with young people on the real-life decisions they will ultimately face. It’s like playing a modern-day version of the original board game, LIFE. The students are given an opportunity to make their decisions based on the individual scenarios they are given for the day. It’s a great program!"

As a proud sponsor of Junior Achievement, we are designing a storefront at JA’s newest facility in Montgomery County in 2018.

Learn more about Host's Corporate Responsibility program.