AmeriTowne On the Road in Aurora

Aurora Public Schools’ Chief Academic Officer, John Youngquist, and Young Americans’ CEO, Rich Martinez, pose for a photo with the judge from Laredo Elementary on April 5.

In partnership with Aurora Public Schools, AmeriTowne On the Road travelled to Aurora during the month of April and reached an amazing 991 students!  Presented by CoBank, the Towne of 9 shops was set up inside the Aurora Public Schools Administrative building, a spot centrally located for Aurora schools.  We couldn’t have asked for a better space–it was professional and secure, and the staff was great to work with.

Most of the students and teachers were “first-timers,” and they did a great job navigating and teaching the curriculum.  (Young Americans provides online resources for teachers in the On the Road program who often can’t travel to our teacher orientations in Denver.)  Towne Director, Chris O’Reilly said, “The Aurora sessions were filled with jubilant students.  It’s always a treat to deliver the program to students who have no previous gauge as to what type of day they are about to experience. ‘First generation AmeriTowne,’ you might say. It’s still my favorite part about OTR, even after working in this program for three years!”

Highlights from this inaugural session in Aurora included:

• One day, as the school was leaving, each student shook each of our hands.  It was very professional.
• I had some of the best computer operators I’ve ever seen.  They loved their job, and were extremely dedicated to their work.
• I witnessed really cool interactions between students:  “ You look awesome in that uniform!” and  “I’m sorry but you can’t take cash out of your bank account, you could try using your debit card or writing a check.”
• A law: “No one can eat lunch by themselves.”
• The Sign and Print Shop crew utilized their computer to make signs letting their customers know whenever they updated the prices of their products.
• Glow-in-the dark sticky eye balls were more popular then I have ever seen!
• We had some really cool volunteers from State Farm.  One Agent, Robbie Wright, was driving his grown-up daughter to the airport the morning before he was coming to volunteer.  As he was explaining his day, she said, “That sounds like Young Ameritowne.  I did that when I was a kid!”  He thought it was so neat!
• One student stated, “I never want to leave,” as he was walking out at the end of the day. I said, “You are more than welcome to stay for the entire afternoon to clean everything.” His response was, “I would love to stay and help you clean everything!”

AmeriTowne On the Road heads to Durango next week for its second visit to the 9R School District.  Even more stories to come!