Inspiring students – Ceremony welcomes Inspiration Center to QC

William Peck was having a lot of fun Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 15, at the Junior Achievement of the Heartland Inspiration Center in Moline. The 11-year-old Muscatine, Iowa, boy was at the new JA facility, along with many of his Franklin Elementary School classmates, to get a look at the business world, have some fun and […]

William Peck was having a lot of fun Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 15, at the Junior Achievement of the Heartland Inspiration Center in Moline. The 11-year-old Muscatine, Iowa, boy was at the new JA facility, along with many of his Franklin Elementary School classmates, to get a look at the business world, have some fun and learn a few lessons about jobs and working.

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During this day, William was assigned to play the role of CEO of Black Hawk College. He said the favorite part of the day was having lunch with his friends, but he also liked having meetings with his friends, who were put in the roles of other business leaders for the hands-on learning exercise at the Inspiration Center. “I liked having the staff meetings. I like being the boss, but I have to have limits …. I have to be nice to people and stuff like that,” he said. Not far from William’s staff meetings, the “mayor” was conducting his own business plans. Bryce Martin, 12, a sixth grader at Muscatine’s Grant Elementary School, was put in the role of mayor of the center’s JA BizTown – a simulated town that helps students learn lessons, such as operating banks, managing restaurants and even voting for mayor. “I’ve been working here, signing papers and other stuff. … I like being organized,” said Bryce. One of his big job duties on Tuesday was helping with a real ceremony for the new center. The students from Franklin and Grant schools joined more than 50 business leaders for a Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony. That ceremony helped officially welcome the JA Inspiration Center, which houses Junior Achievement’s capstone programs — JA BizTown and JA Finance Park. The new, state-of-the-art business education facility takes up a portion of the Vibrant Credit Union Corporate Center building at 6600 44th Ave. The nonprofit’s center occupies Suite 3 in what once was a Sam’s Club store. The center offers life-changing opportunities to thousands of area students to apply classroom economic and career concepts in a real-life simulated setting, according to JA. For instance, in the JA BizTown, students get to run businesses, go shopping, receive paychecks and other aspects of running a town while learning career options. “They learn about key factors in operating a business, such as teamwork, operation costs, pricing and advertising,” JA says. Some of the features of the Inspiration Center include:

• The 13,000-square-foot area allows JA to reach and educate an additional 3,000 students each year.  The goal is to reach more than 8,000 fourth- through ninth-grade students annually.
• The JA BizTown now is officially named the Michael Duffy JA BizTown. Mr. Duffy was a longtime JA supporter. Under his leadership, the family-owned Per Mar Security and Research Group in Davenport grew to encompass six states. Mr. Duffy died Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, of pneumonia following COVID-19. 
• The new location includes not only the Michael Duffy JA BizTown, which has 15 businesses, but also the Jim Victor Finance Park, which boasts 14 more. The center also includes a simulated Jersey Mike’s restaurant.
• In addition to classroom/teaching areas and a business town, the center’s walls are filled with inspiration quotes. Some of those include: “So all you have to do is dream.” – Caitlin Clark;  “Don’t try to lessen yourself to the world, let the world catch up to you.” – Beyonce; and “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” – Kevin Durant.

Much of Tuesday’s ceremony was devoted to thanking the many people, groups and businesses that helped make Inspiration Center possible by offering financial support as well as actually building the center inside the Vibrant headquarters.  It was also about looking to the future. Several speakers said they look forward to the time when the students in the audience for the ribbon-cutting ceremony will move from pretending to run businesses to being actual business owners and community leaders. “I hope you will be inspired by all of this. … It’s a great opportunity for you to test it all and see it all,” Jim Russell, CEO and founder of the Davenport-based Russell, said during Tuesday’s events. (Russell was the contractor for the construction of the new JA center.) He also told the students that Russell has built many notable buildings and places in the Quad Cities, but he thinks the Inspiration Center is one of the company’s best projects. “Have you heard of the Skybridge in Davenport? We built it. But this (place) is way cooler. …. I’m really, really proud of this place,” Mr. Russell added. Dougal Nelson, president and CEO for JA of the Heartland, said the new JA BizTown will continue to serve as an essential component of the JA Inspiration Center. It will provide students with an immersive experience in running a simulated economy.   “This is a significant moment for Junior Achievement as we continue to expand our impact, empowering students with the skills they need to succeed in life and work,” he added.