Pictured on May 4, 2025, the Junior Achievement building serves as the site for the Biztown and Financial Park programs. (Photo by Karla Brizuela/For Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Tens of thousands of students have received financial literacy and career readiness training through a new Oklahoma City program designed to simulate real-world experience.
Since the nonprofit center launched in October, students as young as fourth grade have translated the lessons they’ve learned in the classroom to age-appropriate real-world scenarios such as how to budget or run a business.
The idea to create the specialized programs came from the realization that students lacked essential business and financial skills, said Edward Pope, regional director of Junior Achievement of Oklahoma, the group leading the effort.
“We realized students did not have the appropriate knowledge, and so we wanted to create a nonprofit that would help students learn about business and learn how to conduct them,” Pope said.
Oklahoma lawmakers require students in grades seventh to 12th to demonstrate a “satisfactory knowledge level” of 14 financial literacy topics before they graduate. Those topics include the importance of work and budgeting, balancing a checkbook, saving and investing, and the consequences of bankruptcy.
Supporters of the program said that they developed two distinct programs designed to align with Oklahoma’s financial literacy graduation requirements and state standards. There are now two of these centers in Oklahoma. The other is located in Tulsa.
The newest center, located in northwest Oklahoma City, connects volunteers with students to teach them how to navigate real-world financial and business scenarios.
BizTown, which is designed for elementary students, teaches students how to manage a business in a simulated town.
It merges skills learned in the classroom with a visit to an imitation town where students practice the skills they’ve learned in the classroom, learn how to keep their own checkbook, read a paycheck and work a simulated job. Students take on jobs roles within storefronts sponsored by local companies.
The experience gives students a chance to earn and spend money while practicing communication and collaboration, Pope said.
Finance Park is geared toward high school students. It focuses on personal budgeting and long-term financial planning. Students begin by choosing a career path and education level, and then they navigate adult decisions such as marriage, housing, child care and transportation.
Pope said the students progress through three or four life stages. At the end, they find out if they met their financial goals, he said.
Both pathways are free to schools across the state, and over 250 schools have arranged field trips to the center. Supporters said over 4,000 people have volunteered at the center since its launch last year. Over 80% of its funding to pay for the programming comes from several hundred corporate sponsors.
During the 2023–24 school year, Pope said an analysis of the programs show they reached 59,367 students and resulted in over 860,000 contact hours. Over 90% of program participants said the trainings either increased their confidence about joining the workforce or helped set them on a path to set financial goals.
The organization said that number grew to more than 62,000 students during the 2024-25 school year, and the organization said it worked with 270 schools in 96 districts and 1,200 teachers.
Norman teachers Wanda Dyer and Lynndi Cox, who teach at Irving Middle School, said they both incorporate the programs into their classrooms.
Dyer said the center enables her to create engaging modules by combining group activities, personal finance lessons and career exploration exercises.
“They’ve practiced balancing budgets, thinking through life decisions, and identifying career goals,” Dyer said. “By the time they go to the simulation, they’re not just guessing — they’re making informed choices.”
She believes introducing students to the program in eighth grade helps them start thinking about careers before entering high school.
“They can go ahead and start working and have a game plan,” she said.
Cox said some of her students didn’t even know certain jobs existed before visiting the center.
“It gives them options outside the traditional academic path and shows them how their interests can translate into careers,” she said.
Rachel Kanady, senior vice president at NFP, an Aon company, and a Junior Achievement board member, said the center’s age-specific curriculum is able to be adjusted as needed to meet the needs of students and the state.
“Our curriculum is designed to engage students at the right age level, aligning with what they’re learning in school,” she said.
Pope, the regional director, said the center hopes to grow and impact more students.
“As more schools and volunteers get involved, the hope is that even more students across the state will leave better prepared for life after graduation,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story was produced through a reporting partnership between Oklahoma Voice and the University of Central Oklahoma’s journalism program.
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