BizTown gives Portland-area kids a glimpse into adulthood

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 170 million civilians in the American workforce.

However, that number may be an undercount because it does not include kids working at BizTown.

Junior Achievement’s BizTown gives kids in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade the chance to experience working in a simulated city in various fields, including healthcare, construction, food service, journalism, banking and more.

Kids are given jobs based on interviews they’ve done and BizTown money to purchase various goods and services in their make-believe city.

Host Dave Miller and producer Rolie Hernandez spent a day at Biztown recently, talking to students at Boring’s Hood View Adventist School and Vancouver’s Columbia Valley Elementary to find out what a day of adulthood was like for students.

They also spoke to the actual adult responsible for the exercise: Barbara Smith, CEO of Junior Achievement’s BizTown.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 170 million Americans in the civilian workforce. But that’s probably a slight undercount because it does not include kids at BizTown. BizTown is a kind of mini-city where fourth through sixth graders can try out adulthood for a day. They get jobs in retail, construction, food service or health care. They get paychecks, bank accounts and debit cards. And they get freedom – or at least a lot more freedom than in their regular lives.

BizTown happens all across the country. In the Portland area, it’s run by Junior Achievement of Oregon & SW Washington. The nonprofit brings students for daylong field trips to its locations in Southeast Portland and in Hillsboro. Producer Rolie Hernandez and I recently spent the day at the location in Portland. When we went, there were kids from Hood View Adventist School in Boring and the Evergreen School District in Vancouver.

A day at BizTown starts with morning meetings where parent volunteers give the students some basics about what their jobs entail. So the Comcast installers, credit union bank tellers and mercantile clerks all get crash courses in their professions. Then it’s time for a quick speech from the mayor – not Portland Mayor Keith Wilson. At BizTown, the kids are in charge, so a kid is mayor. On the day we went, that kid was Lexi Richards.

[Applause]

Lexi Richards: Good morning, JA BizTown.

Crowd: Good morning!

Richards: You guys can do better than that! Good morning, JA BizTown!

Crowd: [Louder] Good morning!

Richards: My name is Lexi. And no, I haven’t let the power get to my head. Yet. OK, at City Hall, my team and I are officially open for business and ready to serve you. We’ve had our coffee, or at least some extra strong juice boxes, and we’re ready to go.

I’ve had one very important request for you today. Please go vote. We have some big decisions to make, and unlike what’s deciding for dinner, your vote here actually counts right away. It’s a huge privilege to have a say in how our town works, so make sure you head to the polls and let your voice be heard. Plus, it makes you look very official.

Miller [narrating]: Rolie checked in with Lexi after her speech. She was happy with the way it went.

Richards: I feel really good. I think I did really good.

Rolie Hernandez: Yeah, it sounded great. I know you’re telling people to go vote. What are they supposed to be voting for?

Richards: I picked a few questions, like what was your favorite part of BizTown? And do you think they should have more payments or stuff like that? It’s a lot of stuff that I picked. It’s six questions.

Hernandez: You seem really busy. Did you want to be mayor?

Richards: I did. I really did. It’s kind of hard, but I’m still having a lot of fun.

Miller [narrating]: With the workday underway, Rolie and I fanned out to talk to kids about their jobs. I started off at what was essentially our competition. BizTown TV is a closed circuit TV station focused solely on what’s happening in this kid city. Aric had been on the job for all of 10 minutes, but he had the confidence of a broadcast veteran.

Aric: I’m an on-TV host. I do interviews. I let Kirky do the weather. And yes, that’s basically my whole job, on-TV.

Miller: Did you get to choose this or are you assigned this?

Aric: I was assigned this. Last time, I got to choose.

Miller: What did you do last year?

Aric: I was paid a lot because I was a CFO. I’m mad I don’t get as much money now.

Miller: Oh, how much do you get this time?

Aric: $16?

Miller: So I think you get $8 an hour, and then you get paid twice?

Aric: Yeah, you get paid twice.

Miller: Do you like being the interviewer?

Aric: Yes, because I get to see people’s feedback. I get to see what people are doing around here, instead of just doing this. I get to see what’s going on around … Not much jobs get to see what people are doing around the place.

Miller: Can you give me any advice for how to be a good interviewer?

Aric: Oh, a good interviewer? So like, welcome the person. Make sure they’re happy. Make sure they know what they’re saying. Make sure you’re asking them a question that makes sense, not like, “how do you deal with car insurance?” And they don’t even deal with car insurance. Make sure you’re asking them the right questions. Right time, right questions.

Miller: That makes sense. How am I doing so far?

Aric: Good enough.

Miller: [Laughter] That means a lot. Thank you.

Miller [narrating]: Meanwhile, Rolie headed over to talk with the CEO of the Oregon Humane Society.

Hernandez: Have any pets gotten adopted today?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: No, not yet, but we’re waiting for adoptions. We’re making a poster right now so people can donate money and then maybe some people would like to adopt a pet.

Hernandez: Yeah, how much is it to adopt a pet right now?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: We’re thinking about like $9.

Hernandez: Oh wow, that’s a lot of money. I’ve heard a lot of people are going to spend their money at the cafe. Are you worried that no one may adopt a pet?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: Yeah, but we’re thinking about lowering the prices for now. Like maybe $2 or maybe $5. But maybe even lower.

Hernandez: And you have to make a big speech as a CEO. Are you nervous?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: Yeah, I’m kind of nervous, but I think everything will be fine.

Miller [narrating]: She was right. Everything did work out fine. Kids did start adopting animals, which in BizTown means spending some of their BizTown dollars to bring home an actual stuffed animal. I went to the community health center and met a girl named Lumin. I asked her what her job was.

Lumin: Oh, mine is a dental hygienist.

Miller: Oh, OK. There’s a dental office here too.

Lumin: Oh really?

Miller: No, I mean, well you’re a dental hygienist.

Lumin: Yeah.

Miller: OK. I was just assuming there’s a dental office then. Do you like being a dental hygienist?

Lumin: Yeah, I think. My mom’s best friend is a dental hygienist.

Miller: Did you ask your mom’s best friend for any advice for how to be one for the day?

Lumin: Yeah, but she said I get paid a lot if I’m a dental hygienist, so I’m kind of happy.

Miller: Would you want to be a dental hygienist for your real life?

Lumin: Not really.

Miller: Why not?

Lumin: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Miller: You don’t wanna clean teeth?

Lumin: Yeah, yeah. If I’m really broke I would do it though. [Laughter] Yeah. I would do it.

Miller: As a plan B, if you’re really broke. What’s Plan A?

Lumin: Do whatever I want. If I get to, yeah. I’ll start with a part-time job and just make my way to a better job, maybe. I don’t know.

Miller [narrating]: Soon enough, some of the residents of BizTown got their first paychecks, which meant it was time to head to the bank or the credit union. Rolie chatted with a teller who had just dealt with her first big burst of customers.

Hernandez: You just had a rush of people come in to deposit their first check. This is the first break. How do you feel?

Teller: Great.

Hernandez: I mean, were you nervous at all?

Teller: Yeah, like, nervous a lot.

Hernandez: What made you nervous?

Teller: I don’t know because when I’m talking to other people, [I’m] nervous. Even if I know them, it’s nervous for me. Speaking to other people, it’s just like nervous to me.

Hernandez: So were you a little scared when you found out you were going to be a teller?

Teller: Yeah.

Hernandez: But how do you feel now?

Teller: I mean, it’s good now.

Miller [narrating]: A boy named Colton was in line at the bank. I asked what his plans were.

Colton: I’m trying to cash this check.

Miller: Are you going to get any cash or are you just depositing it?

Colton: I’m trying to get cash from it.

Miller: Do you know what you’re going to spend your cash on?

Colton: A soda.

Miller: How much of your money are you going to save and how much are you gonna spend right now?

Colton: I’m gonna save $1 and spend $1 right now.

Miller: But how much is your paycheck?

Colton: $7.84.

Miller: OK, you’re going to deposit $7.84, take out $2 in cash and spend $1 on a soda. Do you get an allowance in real life?

Colton: No.

Miller: You don’t. OK. How much freedom do you have to spend money in your actual life?

Colton: Not that much.

Miller: So what’s it like to be at BizTown where you’re actually going to be able to make your own decisions about spending money?

Colton: It’s really cool.

Miller [narrating]: If the bank is the first stop on people’s breaks, the cafe is basically where everyone goes right after. Popcorn and soda were $1 each. The students working at the cafe had their hands full.

Cafe Worker 1: Kinda crowded.

Cafe Worker 2: Yeah, it was kinda crowded. We tried our best.

Cafe Worker 3: Yeah, it was kind of hard because it was like a really long line and then we had to go to the people behind and get their order ready before.

Miller: So what are the most popular things?

Cafe Workers [in unison]: The sodas and popcorn.

Miller: Sodas and popcorn. And then the snacks, what are the snacks?

Cafe Worker 3: It’s Rice Krispies and fruit snacks…

Miller: But those aren’t as popular.

Cafe Worker 3: Only one person got fruit snacks.

Miller: Only one person got fruit snacks.

Cafe Worker 1: Yeah, they’re kind of expensive and they are kind of small, so…

Miller: Yeah, so you’d recommend, if you’re going to spend your money wisely here, get the popcorn and the soda?

Cafe Worker 3: Yeah. Cause you only get $2 for the cafe each break.

Miller: Right. And the snacks are $1.50 and then you can’t get drinks or popcorn if you spend $1.50 on the snacks.

Cafe Worker 3: Yeah, if you get a snack, that’s the only thing you can get.

Miller: Yeah, you only make that mistake once if you’re here.

Cafe Worker 3: Yeah.

Miller: Have you been drinking soda yourself?

Cafe Worker 3: No, we can’t. I don’t think.

Miller: OK, not until you’re on break and then you buy it?

Cafe Worker 2: Yeah, that’d basically be stealing and then we get fired.

Miller: Oh, you don’t want to be fired.

Cafe Worker 4: Yeah, we can’t get fired. But maybe we’d have to pay for it. I don’t know.

Miller: How did you all feel when you found out you’re going to be working at the cafe?

Cafe Worker 3: I was like, so excited.

Cafe Worker 1: I was happy because I wanted to work at the cafe.

Cafe Worker 3: Yeah, same, and I’m also with like, two of my friends, so I was so happy.

Cafe Worker 2: Yeah, all of our friends were in the cafe…

Miller: Oh, the four of you are all friends?

Cafe Worker 3: This is like exactly what I would pick if I got to pick my job and with the people, this is probably what I would pick.

Miller: Yeah, you’d rather, for a real job, work at a cafe like this and give soda and popcorn than work at a store that sells printers?

Cafe Worker 3: Yeah.

Miller [narrating]: Some of the businesses at BizTown are sponsored by actual companies like Walmart or Comcast. Others are basically generic stand-ins for stores or industries. That’s the case for Northwest Sporting Goods. A few hours in, I stopped by and asked one of the salespeople how business was going.

Salesperson: We’ve made four sales and we’re at a total of $12. So we’ve made four sales. We had to set it up and then add it here. And the total sales of four, we’ve made a pop-up fidget, flyers, sports cards and sticky hands.

Miller: Three sticky hands. That’s the most popular thing so far.

Salesperson: Yes.

Miller: What do you think about BizTown so far?

Salesperson: I think it’s a really fun experience so far. It’s been a lot of fun setting up the computer and just kind of knowing how it feels like to just kind of work. Just make money and stuff.

Miller: Had you been looking forward to this?

Salesperson: Yes.

Miller: How is this different from school life?

Salesperson: Well, I’ll say I’m not a big fan of school, so this is definitely a lot more fun. I like putting in the numbers and doing all the sales. It’s really fun to check them out and just hopefully … Like, she’s doing sales over there so I think it’s really fun, not as much boring math, it’s a lot more fun math and there’s a lot more [I’m] looking forward to. We get to go to the cafe and stuff. But school, it’s just like you’re looking forward to the end of the day. So I think there’s a lot more to look forward to and I think it’s very exciting.

Miller: You also have a fair amount of freedom here, right? More so than in school. To like, make your own decisions, to feel like you’re sort of in charge here.

Salesperson: Yes, yeah.

Miller: Do you think you’re learning something?

Salesperson: Maybe learning how to be a “businesswoman,” kind of.

Miller: You had airquotes there.

Salesperson: [Laughs] Yeah. Learning what it feels like to work for what you need to pay off, debt and everything. It kinda helps you learn what your parents do every day and show how grateful you should be, because they do a lot of work for you. So this is just a day that, technically, you get to see what they do.

Miller: Are you just saying that because you’re talking to an adult or do you really believe that?

Salesperson: No. I actually believe that.

Miller: You really feel like you’re having more of a sense for what your parents do…

Salesperson: Now, knowing how much work it is, yes.

Miller: OK. And this is into your second hour of work, you’re already feeling this.

Salesperson: Yeah, it’s work because we already had sales and I wasn’t even done putting down the prices or putting all the things in here, but we were already having sales. So I had to multitask and everything like that, but it’s been really fun.

Miller: Pretty soon, when you have your break, you’re gonna go to the bank first, right? That’s what everyone does and so you’ll deposit your first paycheck. Are you also going to get some cash out?

Salesperson: Yes, I’m obviously going to get the $2 of cash out. I might go to the cafe or maybe the mercantile to support our … because that’s my class. I might go to support the businesses and stuff. Maybe donate to the animal shelter if there’s no more animals left.

Miller: Do you think of yourself as, when you have money, a spender or a saver?

Salesperson: Saver.

Miller: You are.

Salesperson: Yes.

Miller: Why?

Salesperson: I’ve saved a whole bunch of money...

[Student walks in] Hi Moses! Would you like to get anything?

Moses: Can I get the water bottle.

Salesperson: The water bottle! Yes, you may.

Miller: Moses, how’d you choose the water bottle to buy?

Moses: From the options on the list.

Salesperson: My colorful list.

Miller: So you’re gonna spend $7.50 on this water bottle?

Moses: Yes.

Miller: Is that going to be most of your paycheck? How much was your paycheck this time?

Moses: $8 is my paycheck.

Miller: OK, and you’re going to spend $7.50 on a water bottle.

Moses: Yes.

Miller: Could you hear the father in my voice as I ask that question?

Moses: Yeah.

Miller: OK, but you’re happy with this decision?

Moses: Yes.

Miller: Do you have a water bottle right now already?

Moses: At my house? Yeah.

Miller: OK. [Laughs]

Salesperson: Card or check?

Moses: Card.

Salesperson: Your balance is $5.84. Have you spent anything yet?

Moses: No.

Miller: Did you get any cash?

Moses: I got $2.

Miller: Ah, so what happened is … Wait. Can you explain what happened?

Salesperson: Since you got the cash, you don’t have the full $8. You only have pretty much $6 in your card. And the other $2 is…

Moses: Can I put the extra $2 back on my account?

Salesperson: So go to the bank and make sure you deposited the right amount of money, and then come back.

Miller: Moses, can I come with you?

Moses: Yes.

Miller [narrating]: So I followed Moses back to the bank where he explained to one of the adult helpers what he wanted. She was a bit confused.

Adult Helper: You want to deposit the cash back into your account. Why? Just wondering.

Moses: Cause I only have $5 on my account.

Adult Helper: Makes a lot of sense. And you’re gonna get paid a second time today, so you’re gonna have that amount get doubled. So the reason that you have cash is because you can then use that to purchase a soda or popcorn in the cafe, or you could go ahead and donate this to the Humane Society.

If you really, really, really want to deposit the cash back into your account, I would want you to bring your money tracker back with you so that we could make your money tracker accurate. So if you really, really want that extra $2 added back on, we could do that, but I just want you to come back with your money tracker so we can make sure that your bank account is accurate. How does that sound?

Moses: That sounds good.

Miller [narrating]: Moses got his money tracker, went back to the bank, deposited his cash and then walked into the sporting goods store again to buy that new water bottle.

Salesperson: You’re back! OK, let’s try this again. So you wanted a water bottle?

Moses: Yes,

Salesperson: OK. You only have $6.34 again.

Moses: I just put $2 back on my account. I’ll come back when I get my second paycheck.

Salesperson: OK, I’ll keep it on hold for you, I think.

Miller [narrating]: OK, it turns out there’d been some miscommunication. When Moses deposited his cash, some went back into his checking account, but some was put into a new savings account, meaning that when he tried to use that debit card to buy the water bottle, there still was not enough money. It was a learning experience, which brings us to the next interview.

There are a lot of CEOs and CFOs at BizTown. All of them go back to being fourth graders at the end of the day, but there is one permanent CEO in the building. Barbara Smith is the president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Oregon and SW Washington – that’s the nonprofit that puts on BizTown. We sat down together in a quiet room away from the business. I started by having her describe BizTown.

Barbara Smith: I describe it as an experiential learning opportunity for students to see what it’s gonna be like to be an adult.

Miller: What do you think kids are missing without something like this? I guess I’m just wondering what hole you think this fills.

Smith: Students need to understand how their education connects to their careers and to what they want to do later in life. They need to understand that the interest that they have as an individual can be part of what they do as they get out of school and they go into that workforce. So understanding that when you go to any store, if you go to a Walmart, you see somebody ringing up the merchandise, but there’s someone who manages the money, there’s someone who manages the people’s time, there’s someone who manages the inventory … So they need to understand what our options for them as they go forward. They also need to really understand how reading, writing and arithmetic are going to form their futures, and for them to truly understand why it’s important to know those skills before they get out of school.

Miller: Oh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. So using those skills and seeing examples of using those skills in jobs as a fourth or fifth grader.

Smith: Yes.

Miller: In answer to the question, why do I need to know this?

Smith: Correct. When they get here, they have to read their manual. So it’s like on-the-job training that the students are getting. [It] says, number one, do this. Number two, do this. If they don’t have the comprehension skills to understand that, that’s OK. But they can see where that’s where they might need a little more help as they continue on in their education, to get that help to make that connection.

Miller: How long have you been doing this?

Smith: Twenty years.

Miller: You’ve been doing this the whole time?

Smith: I have.

Miller: Have you noticed shifts or changes in that time in terms of the students or changes in terms of what you think they need to learn?

Smith: Great question. I think the basic concept is the same. So experiential learning is really an opportunity for students to put into practice what they’re learning. So it’s not just sitting in the classroom and learning 2 + 2 is 4. [It’s] really understanding how to put it into play. Students are becoming less sophisticated in their math because of technology, so they use technology to guide them through that.

When you equate that to financial literacy, students get a debit card – even here in JA BizTown, they get a debit card – and if they’re not tracking the money in and the money out, it doesn’t mean much to them. So that financial literacy piece is really, really important. And because things are so easy for us these days without having to keep a checkbook and a register, it can easily get missed on how much money do I really have? So teaching those beginning basics of banking and understanding what that means.

Miller: But you feel like you’ve seen a decline in mathematic ability in the last two decades.

Smith: Absolutely, because the students are relying on technology to do that for them.

Miller: Things like timetables?

Smith: Yes. Even understanding how they’re gonna spend their time, so time management, that’s a whole another thing. We have these great little tools of phones and iPads that keep our attention, so those soft skills are really getting a hit with not being able to have a conversation and holding eye contact. Kids don’t look directly in your eyes anymore and so just that communication piece and those soft skills there could use some additional attention and work.

COVID really made a change for that for everybody. And I think students are having a slow time referring back to what that means because even some of our adults, even some of our educators, are unfortunately having challenges around that.

Miller: What do the actual real businesses that are represented here have to do to have a presence here? I’m thinking about Comcast, Unite Us, Walmart. Those are obviously all real businesses. Some of them, like Realty, [are] not named after an actual [business]. But for the ones that are real companies, what’s the relationship between JA Junior Achievement and BizTown, and those companies?

Smith: So any company that comes in as a partner for us. There is a financial obligation that schools or that businesses come in with, so they help support the program. It costs us about $65 to run a student through this program. We’ll run about 15,000 kids through the program. So they help us financially. They also help us with volunteers. A lot of our schools are not able to necessarily get the needed volunteers for a day of simulation. So any day of simulation, we need about 23 volunteers to come in.

Those volunteers are there to facilitate and help the kids understand … Maybe that comprehension level is low, so they need someone to help them understand, “I’m supposed to do what?” And help them connect those dots. So, a lot of our partners have a lot of their employees that come in and volunteer with us, which is just amazing.

They also help us to make sure that we’re representing their brand correctly. Maybe it’s a branch manager, maybe it’s a store manager. Whatever the titles are in their business, students get to understand what sort of jobs are available in that industry or that business and make a better connection to those organizations. But how cool is it to say that, “in fifth grade, I worked for Comcast?” How cool is that?

Miller: So Comcast, just to be clear, they give some money to the program to make it work and then they have a hand … when we heard earlier the short speeches by the CEOs, those are provided by the companies?

Smith: We do that in partnership with those companies, yes, to make sure we’re representing their brand and what students would be doing in those businesses. Absolutely, yeah.

Miller: Who sets the salaries?

Smith: So the salaries, they’re not real world salaries. It’s simple math. So we don’t want students to have too much challenges when they are tracking their money in, money out, and what they’re receiving as far as purchasing items. Because they get their own paychecks. They get two paychecks while they’re here. It’s like one month squeezed into four-and-a-half hours. That’s just a set thing across the country that we have that is in single digits so that it’s not too complicated for the kids. So it’s not real world prices at all.

Miller: Right. I mean, one thing that most stood out to me in terms of the salaries was the difference between … at Comcast, for example, an installer might make $8 an hour and the CEO of Comcast here makes $9 an hour.

Smith: Correct.

Miller: As opposed to making three, four or 500 times more than the installer.

Smith: Correct. We don’t have big discrepancies in the wages. It’s about 50 cents. So it’s not a huge discrepancy. We want this to be inspirational for kids and to understand what’s possible, and not to get fixated on the money piece of it. We want them to understand what the money means and how that will affect their worlds, but we want them to be able to be inspirational about, “OK, well, that’s not much more than me. I can aspire to that. I can get to that place.” And that’s a good thing to think, but we want them to really understand how their education is gonna affect their future jobs. How their passions can be a benefit for their future jobs, so they do something that, as they say, it’s not a job. How great is it to have a job that you enjoy going to, instead of, “oh, I gotta go to work.”

Miller: How often do you just wander through there? I mean, it seems like you, as an actual CEO of an actual entity, I imagine you’re busy. But do you just wander around and watch the fourth graders doing their jobs?

Smith: Absolutely. So I was lucky enough to start with this organization when we started building JA BizTown. So I was there to be able to pick out the 42 different colors that are in the space. So I’ve been very fortunate to have that. Sometimes it’s easy to get removed from that. So just sitting in there, and enjoying and watching the kids, and hearing the side conversations that they’re having at lunch: “I gotta get back to work. I got so much to do.” And listening to the parents talk about, “My son or daughter didn’t want to sit down with me because they’re too busy, they’ve got things to do.” And hearing the stories from the educators about how, “Jimmy is so quiet in the classroom, but just came to life in this program,” and really being so proud. And we literally have teachers crying because of what their students are doing. How cool is that?

See, it chokes me up just saying that. But how cool is it to be able to have a job that affects literally hundreds of thousands of kids? It’s pretty cool. I’m pretty blessed.

Miller [narrating]: Barbara Smith is the president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Oregon and SW Washington.

After talking with Barbara about salaries, I was curious how the kids felt about this same question. So I talked to Aubrey. She was the Comcast CEO for the day.

Miller: I looked at the actual salary of the Comcast CEO. Do you want to guess what it is for the year?

Aubrey: I don’t know.

Miller: I didn’t know either. Over $34 million. That’s what they made in a recent year.

Aubrey: Oh, that’s a lot.

Miller: It’s a lot. And the difference between what the CEO makes in a year and what people who do installations [make], it’s like three. four or 500 times different. So if they made $8 an hour here, you would make like over $3,000 an hour. If this were the real world, how would you think your coworkers would feel if you made $3,000 an hour and they made $8 an hour?

Aubrey: Probably [would] not make them feel that good because it’s best if we pay almost the same.

Miller [narrator]: But it’s not just about the money. There are other perks to being CEO. Near the end of the day, Rolie checked back in with Alice, the CEO of the Oregon Humane Society.

Hernandez: Why do you like this job so much?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: Because it’s fun! And I’m the CEO. I can boss everybody around.

Hernandez: How have the adoptions been going?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: OK, so we have a lot of adoptions. A lot of people like adopting pets. And I think people are like, if somebody adopts a pet, they tell everybody. Then a bunch of people come in, and we’re really low on the pets. We have only three left.

Hernandez: That’s always a good thing, right?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: Yeah, it’s a good thing. You get a lot of money, but I mean, like people need adoptions.

Hernandez: So you’re saying you need more puppies because you’re expecting a lot more people to want to adopt?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: Yeah, and a lot of people like run in. I kind of feel bad for the people who come in and say, “OK, I’m gonna go earn one more dollar,” and then already they’re all sold out. And then they come in and they’re like, “What? I wanted a dog!”

Hernandez: Is there anything you felt like you learned from today?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: No.

Hernandez: What do you mean? Like you felt like you already knew a lot of the stuff you’re doing?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: I mean, I learned that I have to go to the bank even though I don’t want to go to the bank and that you can order ice in the cafe. I ordered a drink of extra ice today.

Hernandez: Why don’t you like going to the bank?

Oregon Humane Society CEO: I don’t know! Because it’s kind of boring. You have to wait in line, but it’s pretty quick. So that’s the good part about the bank.

Miller: Near the end of the day, I sat down with Mayor Lexi for one last conversation.

Richards: It’s been really fun. It’s been a little chaotic, but most of the time it’s pretty fun.

Miller: What’s the most chaotic part?

Richards: When you get several things you have to sign at once, because then it’s like a stack on your table, and it’s kind of hard.

Miller: What have you spent your money on?

Richards: I spend on the Northwest Sports because I want to support their business, because they’re one of the hardest ones to get out of debt, the stores mostly. Then I spent it on this soda that I’m drinking, yeah.

Miller: What do you think you’ve learned today?

Richards: Being an adult is hard. I love to work, but sometimes I can overdo [it]. I can bite off too much that I can’t chew, that saying. And then I get overwhelmed. But then it’s good to have breaks because it teaches me to calm down and then I can go back to my work.

Miller: Do you have any idea what you’d actually like to do when you’re an adult?

Richards: I know I want to be a leader-type figure. Whether that’s mayor of a town, or the manager of a McDonald’s or whatever. It’s not that I wanna have power over everybody. It’s that I wanna give people the best experience that I can and to the most people I can. So like president, mayor, might be a little much for me as I’m thinking as a kid, but I think it would be, overall, pretty fun.

Miller: Are you ready to give up being mayor?

Richards: It’s been fun, but I think I need to go back to being a kid.

Miller [narrating]: Thanks very much to everybody that we talked to and to the folks at Junior Achievement who made the day so easy.

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