JA Volunteer Spotlight: Henry Alvarez

When did you discover Junior Achievement and what prompted you to volunteer?

I was first engaged with Junior Achievement at an event called ‘the JA Bowl-A-Thon’ and then both of my daughters went to JA BizTown for school field trips. I first began volunteering as a parent for those field trips and the experiences were really amazing; my daughters both enjoyed learning at JA BizTown so much that it inspired me to keep coming back and volunteering on my own.

What were your daughters’ most memorable experiences?

My children still talk about the memories they have to this day and have a deep fondness for JA BizTown. They each had the opportunity to ‘run a business’ — they were either CEO or CFO for the day, which was unique because there are only a handful of such roles available at any given day at JA BizTown. They had to lean into the chaos that goes along with running a business and develop their leadership skills; i.e. making sure that everyone on their team had a job and that they were actively participating in those roles throughout the day.

What have been some of the most memorable moments for you as a volunteer?

Every time that I’ve done it has been special and memorable. I love the beginning of each day as I’m waiting for the kids to come in; I get to see their faces light up as they walk through the doors. They’ve done all the prep work in the classroom prior to coming in but the course work, the papers and the bullet points and the workbooks can’t do the facility justice. Every time they enter the town they just look around and they become so excited about putting into action what they’ve learned in the classroom. The energy is really high all day long and it’s great to see individual students come into their own and rise to the occasion when they’re met with challenges. Seeing the immediate and deep impact of the activities at JA BizTown has on every student is what keeps me coming back.

Does it give you peace of mind that there is a program available for kids that helps prompt discussions around financial wellness and the discovery of potential career tracks?

I love how it’s an open slate for everybody — regardless of someone’s background every one of these kids get to experience what it’s like owning and running a business for one day. JA BizTown is unique in the way that it give kids and opportunity to have some real-world experiences like balancing a checkbook, paying off a bank loan, and keeping up with payroll. I think it’s inspiring to be able to participate in this learning environment because kids discover that anyone can do anything as long as they set their mind to it.

From your unique perspective as someone who works in the finance/banking industry, do you think there is an aspect of business ownership that people often overlook?

One of the things that kids kept talking about today for example, was the process of working together as a team. It may seem like ‘teamwork’ is a factor that is readily considered or top of mind but often the main focus is on product development, or finance, or business strategy. The comradery of the team is something that really gets overlooked and that is something the kids have mentioned many times within a day.

So as businesses compete to innovate and differentiate themselves in the marketplace, maybe there’s something to be said about fostering teamwork internally and taking the time to appreciate the health of team dynamics?

That’s a good point. A lot of times companies have silos, regardless of the size of the organization. Having a strong team environment is imperative to success, and many organizations would do well to promote a culture of inclusivity, openness, and respect. Every person across an organization plays a key role in that organizations’ success; perhaps more time should be dedicated to conversations about teamwork optimization and inclusivity.

Do you have any advice for future volunteers?

Patience is everything. The kids come in and they’re a bit overwhelmed — they’ve done the pre-work but the setting is really awe-inspiring and the day’s activities move along at a brisk tempo. Just by understanding how unique this experience is for them you can provide proper support. Allow them to fail so that they can learn from their mistakes but promote that teamwork and that atmosphere of cooperation. They will ultimately feel successful from being able to accomplish things as a team. Overall, it’s great to see kids learn how to preserve through their mistakes and bounce back, which is another great takeaway that is specific to this program at Junior Achievement.

Interview by Andrea Vidovic
Previously published on Medium.com