Junior Achievement

I had originally planned on adding a group called ASAP to the map, but upon realizing that they work solely in Medford I switched another LCS group called Junior Achievement. Junior Achievement is a club that organizes Tufts students to volunteer at local schools teaching basic business and math principals to children in grades K-6. While the group insists that no prior knowledge of economics or business is necessary to teach the children, a large portion of the group is made up of economics majors.

While I am not currently involved in the organization, I am an economics major, and researching Junior Achievement really got me thinking about how the skills of the group members could be put to even better use. These are students who generally have a background in economic principles, enjoy teaching, and have a desire to volunteer in the community. While educating the next generation is extremely important, perhaps in these troubling economic times we should be offering this kind of support to the adult members of the community, too.

Last year, during the height of the economic crisis, the Tufts Economics Department held a symposium led by professors who explained what brought on the economic crisis in the United States and gave students a better understanding of the economic background behind everything they were hearing in the news. I think that this kind of education would be of great value to the Somerville community and I plan to propose it to the organizers of Junior Achievement. The talk could be lead by Junior Achievement members and even feature portions on what the economic crisis means to Somerville, and where we can go from here. Maybe this networking map could help facilitate this kind of event.