Author: Cathy Essick
Community Involvement
Published:
Thursday, 12 Nov 2026
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Image caption: Harding Middle School students join representatives from Google and Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa to cut the ribbon on the new BizTown® Visitor Center during JA BizTown® Mobile on November 12, 2026.
With their classmates gathered around, Harding Middle School students joined representatives from Google and Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa to cut the ribbon on the new BizTown® Visitor Center on November 12. The storefront made its debut during the JA BizTown® Mobile simulation at Harding Middle School in the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Google sponsors the new storefront and is a presenting sponsor of Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa's BizTown® Mobile.
JA BizTown® Mobile travels to schools, bringing a simulated town where students take on jobs and work together to keep businesses running. The new Visitor Center is part of that traveling simulation. It serves as a gathering place where students can stop by during breaks to try a virtual reality job simulator, answer a prompt at the content creator’s microphone or share feedback about their experience.
Student jobs bring the Visitor Center to life
The student CEO leads the team, while the CFO handles payroll, pays bills and tracks the storefront’s business loan. The content creator invites visitors to answer a prompt and records their responses. The virtual reality coordinator learns to operate the headset and shows visitors how to use it to try out different jobs.
The chief marketing manager takes the work beyond the storefront, visiting businesses around town and asking volunteers to look for students who take initiative, help coworkers and customers, follow through on their responsibilities, communicate respectfully and set a positive example. The 5-Star Leader Award recognizes students who put those skills into practice during the simulation.
From processing payroll to showing a classmate how to use a VR headset, the Visitor Center gives students different ways to practice communication, teamwork and leadership. Thank you to Google for helping bring these hands-on learning opportunities to students through JA BizTown® Mobile.
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