Foxborough Students Get 'Glimpse of How Real World Works' Through Interactive Program

Editor's note: The following was submitted by Foxborough Assistant Superintendent of Schools Amy Berdos.

A city built and run by students that connects classroom lessons with real-world experiences otherwise known as “Exchange City” was the Teaching and Learning Highlight at the last Foxborough School Committee meeting.

Under the direction of Ms. Alison Mello, K-8 Director of Math and Science, five students representing the Ahern Middle School seventh grade came forward to share their experience with the real-world simulation as well as their insightful reflections. 

Exchange City is the seventh grade learning program that gives students a basic understanding of government, economics and financial literacy in addition to workforce skills. The work first began in the classroom as part of their enrichment curriculum where they learned how to create budgets and business plans, explore careers, use economic theories in order to run their own business including producing, pricing and selling items. 

Seventh grade students present to share their perspectives included: Emily Bubencik, Shannon Smally, Dominic Amico, Olivia Balabanis and Nathan Dumont. They spoke on how they had to learn to manage their time, tasks and work with each other to effectively run a government, pay taxes, hold elections and write laws.

After completing part one of the classroom curriculum, students then had to develop their own resume and draft cover letters to prepare for jobs they were vying for in the simulated city. 

Professionals from the community and parents generously volunteered their time for the interview process, which ultimately helped students land the job they were competing for. In order to prepare for actual jobs in the city, Emily, the City Attorney, shared how important this first step was. 

“We got a glimpse of how the real world works,” she said.

Emily went on to explain the importance of thinking deeply about what you said in your cover letter so that you could impress your interviewers and ultimately get the job you wanted, much like a competition, she said. 

Shannon next talked about the planning that took place in the classroom in order to prepare for the simulation experience.

Dominic, the city’s Mayor, said the best part for him was the election process and being elected as the City’s leader. Dominic explained that he had to write a speech, present it to his peers, develop a campaign slogan and run a good campaign. 

When explaining his thoughts about hiring his campaign manager, he said that you need to “pick someone who is friendly, knows a lot people and is excited in what they do.”  

When explaining his role as Mayor he said, “I realized that you had to have a strategy if you are in charge of 100 kids. I thought of each business as a different sector of the company. If not all survived then the company couldn’t survive. I checked in on every business to make sure each was working the best they could … If City Hall is not working then the citizens won’t work.” 

He summarized by saying the Exchange City experience helped show that government could be the right path in the future for him. 

“I also felt that I did a good job running the city,” he said.

Shannon, the Executive Director of the Wellness Center gave the example of how her group developed stress balls and jump ropes to sell in order to help their business run. The goal was to pay back your loan, she said. Selling items such as these helped them do that.   

Olivia, Managing Editor of the Newspaper, reported on the news and events of the day with her group. She noted that you need to be organized, stay on track and write stories and articles that are intriguing. 

“You also had to be able to work with others,” she said. “Exchange City was a great experience and very educational, it prepared us for the real world.”

Nathan, the bank’s President, was the last to give his perspective about the experience and shared that as the President of the bank he had a lot of responsibilities which were stressful at times. 

“I had to make sure that all the companies paid off their loans while also watching my own employees.” 

However, by the end of the day, everyone worked hard and paid off their loans.  

He ended with a laugh sharing, “I even got fined for having a messy desk.”

The students gave special thanks to Mrs. Mello and all of their seventh grade teachers for helping them prepare for a successful experience, specifically mentioning Exchange City Coordinators, Mr. Dan Williams and Mrs. Julie Clough.

When asked what their big take-aways from the program included, there were many.

Emily and Olivia spoke to the importance of working hard, being able to manage your time, with Shannon adding the importance of being able to manage employees well. 

Nathan reminded the audience that “nothing is free, no matter where you go, you have to use money.”  Dominic echoed their thoughts and summarized by saying, “no matter what you do in life you have to attack it with a strategy.”