JA Summer Camp through the eyes of a TIPS Intern

Author: Katya Turnbow
Community Involvement
Published: Wednesday, 21 Jun 2023

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Image caption: Summer camp students

My name is Andrew Luu, and last summer, I had the pleasure of being a TIPS (Teens in Public Service) intern at Junior Achievement of Washington. As an intern, I got to work on many projects, and one of them was helping at JA BizTown Summer Camp.

At JA BizTown, students learn about financial literacy by running a mini town. They operate different “storefronts” and practice being business owners, writing checks, and paying taxes. During the summer camp, the kids come to the JA Education Center in Auburn to learn about various financial literacy topics and then spend an entire day running JA BizTown using those concepts.

I worked on setting up learning activities for the campers. Being able to see the kids work together collaboratively and use their leadership skills was amazing. I was able to witness their creativity as they brainstormed ideas for Instagram marketing or what their town needs to operate better, and their resilience as they ran storefronts under pressure while handling “customers” (each other) and paying taxes. I could tell that, throughout the camp, the students were gaining confidence in themselves and learning new leadership and collaboration skills.

Andrew Luu is a senior at Todd Beamer High School. He is planning to study finance and operations & supply chain management at the University of Washington in Seattle in the fall.