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Keith McCord ReportingEver wonder what it takes to become the CEO of a major corporation? Or the inventor of something that will change the world?
It takes hard work for sure, and determination that starts at a very young age. We found a whole room full of future CEO's at a Holladay elementary school today. If you think 34 third graders don't know how the American economy works, this should convince you otherwise.
Amy Valdez' class at St. Vincent de Paul Elementary has created its own shopping center. Valdez calls it "Mall Day".
Amy Valdez, 3rd Grade Teacher: ‘We have a micro-economy in our classroom. We have a bakery. We have a couple of Halloween stores. We have a bookstore, a game store.
Even a pet adoption agency complete with a cage full of stuffed animals!
The kids come up with their own plan for their store; they are issued a business license signed by the teacher; they even pay taxes. The students also designed their own currency. They had a contest at the beginning of the year...
Amy Valdez, 3rd Grade Teacher: “The kids vote on the currency that they like best and then we copy it off. Easy as that.”
That currency was changing hands fast today. And as in the real world, some businesses here did much better than others. Today was the first "Mall Day" of the year Amy Valdez’ class; they'll do it two more times during the school year. For the kids, or business owners, they're finding out it takes a lot of work to run a company.
Alexis Humphrey, 3rd Grader: "Well we've learned the challenges of getting money, selling things, having to take care of all these customers, who sometimes don't know where to stand in line. Sometimes it's very hard to do this business!"
Even Bill Gates probably said that a few times in his early years. Besides making the "bottom line", these students also learn how to work together and identify and solve problems
