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DONG-PHUONG NGUYENHillsborough County grownups want to raise funds to replicate Largo's Enterprise Village, where students learn commerce.
TAMPA - Enterprise Village, a mini-mall in Largo designed to prepare schoolchildren for the grownup business world, has attracted so much attention that a model just debuted in Tokyo.
Seattle and St. Louis are preparing for unveilings. And now Hillsborough County might join the list.
Junior Achievement and the school district are hoping to build an Enterprise Village somewhere in Hillsborough. About a month ago, supporters began meeting with potential sponsors in hopes of launching a capital campaign.
Their goal is to raise $7-million in time for a March 2005 opening, according to Richard George, president of the Junior Achievement of West Central Florida, which would own the facility.
Although the campaign is still in the quiet stages, excitement over the prospect of a local village has some buzzing.
"It's good for the education system; it's good for the kids," said Keith Gall, director of the Gus A. Stavros Institute, which runs Enterprise Village in Largo.
Gall, who sits on the committee to bring Enterprise Village to Hillsborough, said more than 17,000 kids go through his facility each year. That includes all Pinellas County fifth-graders and students in private schools. But participation is not limited to one county. The concept is so popular that some students board buses at 5 a.m. to travel three hours from Lake Wales, Gall said.
Although Largo is just across the bay, fifth-graders from only three Hillsborough County schools were able to participate last year because of of a lack of space, said John Weil, senior vice president of Junior Achievement of West Central Florida.
Enterprise Village isn't just a place they go to for a day. Preparation for the experience takes six weeks. While still in the classroom, students fill out job applications and are assigned occupations by their teachers.
Once they arrive at Enterprise Village, they assume their duties, earn paychecks, balance their bank accounts, write checks, shop and learn about the revolving world of commerce.
They are both employers and consumers. In the end, they have to produce a balance sheet.
"There's no better education than doing it," Gall said.
In addition to the Tokyo location, there are about 12 other Enterprise Villages either open or set to open throughout the United States.
About two years ago, Junior Achievement bought the rights to replicate the Largo model worldwide, Weil said.
So far, they do not have a location picked out, but the backers do have a campaign chairwoman: Alex Sink, former Florida head of NationsBank (now Bank of America).
"We're still at the very beginning stages of it," George said. "But yes, we do have a plan."