Red Oak fifth-graders run their own city
December 20, 2007
By PAULINE FORTE Staff Writer
Fifth-graders from Red Oak School in Highland Park participated in Experiencia's Exchange City on Dec. 10 and ran their own city, from the mayor's office and the police department to the news media and the business community.
Exchange City, located at 770 N. Halsted St. in Chicago, welcomes fifth- and sixth-grade students for a day, after they have studied a 40-hour curriculum based on economics, math and social studies.
Experiencia is an educational company providing unique and immersive learning programs in two areas: Exchange City and EarthWorks, a science, math and language arts program for third- and fourth-grade students.
Experiencia won the 2007 Chicago Innovation Award, which honors Chicago-area businesses and nonprofit organizations that develop the year's most innovative new products and services.
Before experiencing Exchange City, the Red Oak students learned about the different jobs they could take on, including managing editor, reporter, judge, property manager, bank president, Postal Service agent, production manager, graphic designer and DJ. To get the job, they wrote their resume, filled out applications and participated in interviews.
Supply and demand
Furthermore, they studied supply and demand, government and laws, goods and services and banking and personal finance, among other important concepts they had to become familiar with to run their own city.
Highland Park officials, including Mayor Michael Belsky, State Sen. Susan Garrett, State Rep. Karen May, School District 112 Superintendent Maureen Hager and Red Oak Principal Susan Cahail, participated in the simulation by purchasing goods from the retail establishments and interacting with the many business employees.
"The important thing is hand-on learning, which is very motivating to students and immediately engages them," Hager said.
At Exchange City, the Highland Park students used state-of-the art technologies and equipment in a very realistic environment to write and enforce laws for their city and take on roles as consumers, business owners and law makers.
Cahail shared her views about Exchange City. "Educationally, students have had the opportunity to apply lessons in the classroom to real-life situations."
She said she was seeing problem-solving and watching them work together.
"It's valuable to take on leadership and collaborative roles as they come together as a community," she said.
Walking around Exchange City is like going around a real little town, with store fronts, a snack shop, a mini LaSalle Bank with video cameras and panic buttons, a radio station, a newspaper, a post office, a police and fire department, a real estate company and a distribution center.
'No running'
One of the first actions students took when they became citizens of Exchange City was to vote on city laws, which were posted at Town Hall square. They read, "No food outside of Snack Shop," "No gum chewing," "Clean up after yourself," "No running" and "Respectful behavior is expected."
Across the Snack Shop on Mayor Daley Plaza were three large green dumpsters for recyclable items, emphasizing the city's environement-friendly focus.
Students also elected the different city officials. At City Hall, a judge (a volunteer father) was present for those who received a ticket. One of Mayor Gloriann Lance's responsibilities was to meet with the judge and decide the fine amounts, which "must be fair."
She also had to make sure that the city finance manager mailed the tax bills.
Lance said her favorite part of the job was to sign the checks. "I feel very powerful," she said.
Experiencia Chairman Howard Tullman said that each business takes a loan for the day, and each person who works gets paid $2 twice a day. In addition, every business has an accountant and a telephone, Tullman said.
Eddie Smoliak, vice president of the bank, was in charge of writing the bills and bringing checks to the various businesses. When customers waited in line to get money, Smoliak clicked their name on the bank's database and verified that they had money available so he could give them an additional $2.
Reporters and editors were busy putting together the daily newspaper. Nikol Manof, a reporter, was typing a news article after having gone around the town to take pictures.
The owner of the Distribution Center, Reece Pulfer, oversaw the sale of raw materials for the various businesses, from color paper and yarn to pop corn. Employees there learned about supply and demand by taking order forms and delivering materials with their own UPS service.
"I learned that selling stuff isn't as easy as you think because I have to organize it all," Pulfer said.
When Exchange City citizens were done with their job, they could go around town and shop. Some bought stamps and mailed letters at the U.S. Postal Service, which then led Benji Rubin, a postal service agent, to collect the mail, sort it out and deliver it.
The post office simulation gave Rubin a positive image of the job, as he said that maybe he wants to become a postal service agent.
Other citizens bought a newspaper, food (pop corn, pita chips or hummus) at the Snack Shop or a hand-made banner at the Sports Center, designed as the front of Wrigley Field.
Throughout the day, the top 25 songs that the citizens had picked were being played, interrupted only by citizen announcements and song dedications that could be purchased from the DJ recording studio.
Key to the city
Back at City Hall, the mayor read over her notes before addressing Exchange City's citizens at they day's second Town Hall meeting. There she presented a proclamation to each of the guests and the key to Exchange City to Mayor Belsky.
"This is just a phenomenal learning experience," Belsky said.
He added that our lives are affected by local stores and government. "Because of what you've done, you'll be better citizens," he said.
"You have learned all the possibilities that you have. You can be anyone and anything that you choose to be," Hager told her fifth-grade audience.