Ameritowne.

So, Noah takes this class at Options called AmeriTowne. This is the second year he's taken it. He LOVES it. To read more about this fabulous program, check out this link. (Seriously. Go check it out and then come back. They explain it better than I could. Cool, eh?)

Yesterday (Wednesday), they had their Towne Day. It was awesome. :) (To be clear, his own class that he goes to every Monday does not have this many kids. This year's Towne Day brought together a number of Options sites and their AmeriTowne classes to create this entire town and learn about working together.)

I was fortunate enough to attend as a parent volunteer this year. They have an entire little town created and the kids are in charge:

To outline the details a bit more:

1. Noah's job this year (they have to interview for positions prior to Towne Day) was as accountant for the medical center. There are about 17 different shops.
2. As accountant, he paid all the salaries at the medical center (to himself, the manager, a couple doctors and a couple health technicians, I think). Each shop had a manager/president/editor, an accountant and miscellaneous staff people depending on the shop needs. Managers and accountants made $30 for the day and everyone else made $25. (This is all in AmeriTowne money, not true US currency obviously.) Oh, and prior to Towne Day, they elected a mayor and a judge as well. They worked in Towne Hall and were paid the same as managers/accountants. They oversaw the police officers and community relations person.
3. He also paid all the bills to the other businesses (for things like advertising and delivery services and training). (The parent volunteers primarily help the accountants in each shop during the day as they have a lot of paperwork. I helped in the newspaper this year.)
4. During his breaks (every kid got two breaks--one before lunch and one after), he was told to go and spend all his money (having been paid at the start of the day and then depositing that money into his checking account) to help stimulate the Towne economy.
5. On those breaks, the kids could use cash, check or debit card and were encouraged to use all three and keep their registers up to date. The goal of the day is to end with zero in this case. Anything left at the end of the day could be donated to real organizations (the Young Americans program turns those donations into real money!). 
6. Each shop sold different items. The medical center's income derived from selling squishy eyeballs and from co-pays (students are randomly brought to the medical center with a variety of illnesses and injuries and required to pay a co-pay before they can return to work). Other shops sold snacks, candy, drinks, ice cream, newspapers, picture ID cards, trinkets and more.
7. At the end of the day, shops hopefully brought in enough money to cover their bank loans that were made at the start of the day (with 10% interest). Knowing this, students were able to raise or lower prices as they deemed fit (within a few guidelines).
8. They concluded the day by evaluating their shops, awarding employee of the day certificates for each shop and looking at their bank statements to determine if they'd made a profit or not. 

I feel so fortunate to have experienced this program and am so very glad it exists. They have summer camps and Saturday classes in addition to other programs, so check them out if you live around here, okay?