On Friday, Feb. 3, I volunteered for Junior Achievement-for-a-day at West Salem Elementary with Kami Buchholz’s third grade class.

The kids were exceedingly creative and intelligent (elementary students seem to learn about so much, so much earlier in school nowadays), and they even helped me to figure out how to use the Smart Board. Back in the day when I was in school, chalk boards were the norm and it was a big deal to have a dry erase board!

The third grade program for JA is “Our City,” so we talked about zoning rules (why things are where they are in the city), the job of a city planner, being an entrepreneur and owning a restaurant, and the role of a newspaper in a city.

If you don’t know much about JA, here’s their website: swvirginia.ja.org . President of JA Southwest Virginia Katherin Elam is always looking for professional volunteers.

-Miranda Beck