Editorial: We thank those who made the Junior Achievement Discovery Center a reality

Published 12:01 am Saturday, March 6, 2021

Thursday saw a significant development in the educational offerings of our community with the opening of the Junior Achievement Discovery Center of Greater Dalton on the campus of Hammond Creek Middle School. Youth who visit the center will learn valuable lessons about economics and life.

The discovery center “brings world-class learning experiences to young people in this region, (giving) them a window to their futures through authentic, real-world experiences, (and) they see there is a place for them in the economy, (whatever) their talents and abilities,” said John Hancock, president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Georgia.

Middle school students from more than a dozen school systems in northwest Georgia will be exposed to local career pathways and learn how to manage money and utilize business plans and budgets.

Hancock noted that this discovery center is the first of its kind outside of a major, metropolitan city, and Dalton is the smallest community to host a discovery center.

That is something to celebrate, as are the many people and businesses who have joined together to make the discovery center here a reality.

That includes the current people behind Junior Achievement, of course, but also such visionaries as Dalton businessman and philanthropist Jack Bandy and I.V. Chandler, an educator and pioneer in the bedspread, textile and rug industries, who are credited with bringing Junior Achievement to Dalton in the 1950s. Another early supporter was Robert “Bob” Shaw, the co-founder of Shaw Industries and founder of Engineered Floors.

“Great projects have great people associated with them,” Hancock said.

Among the companies and organizations represented in the 15,000-square-foot discovery center are Engineered Floors, Shaw Industries, Hamilton Health Care System, Mercedes-Benz, Ford of Dalton, Dalton State College and Georgia Northwestern Technical College.

The total cost was slightly more than $5 million. Dalton Public Schools was responsible for approximately $2.8 million, and the rest was covered by Junior Achievement, donors and local businesses who are participating in the center.

“This is another wonderful example of how community partnerships make great things happen in our area,” Dixie H. Kinard, a member of the Northwest Georgia Junior Achievement Executive Advisory Board, wrote in a letter to this newspaper this week. “We are grateful to the Dalton Board of Education and Superintendent Tim Scott, the vision and leadership of Anna Adamson and the Northwest Georgia Junior Achievement board.”

Kinard also credited “hundreds of volunteers who have been a part of supporting Junior Achievement.”

We celebrate all who have brought this discovery center to life. It is a wondrous result of the efforts of so many people, and shows again the positive things that can happen when people work together for the good of the community.

If you see someone who has helped to bring this discovery center here, please give them a heartfelt thanks for looking out for the youth of our community, their aspirations, their dreams.