For one day, fifth-graders from Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School ran a community. They applied for jobs, managed budgets, governed the city and worked with others.

They went to Exchange City, a Junior Achievement program in Downtown Indianapolis.

"I would describe it as a really fun place where you get to learn jobs," said Madeline Leahy, 11.

Y-Press recently talked to Madeline and four other students about their day at Exchange City. The others were Joey Hilger, 11, Mel Skochdopole, 11, Bridget Johantges, 12, and Jay Cougan, 12.

The Indianapolis program, started in 1995, was the second Exchange City in the United States. It allows students to run a miniature city in a real-life application of classroom work. About 110 schools participate in the program, which runs year-round.

Elaine Mondschein, Kansas City, Mo., has worked with Exchange City since its beginning.

"We wanted to create a program that had all the wonderful academic subjects that students in fifth and sixth grade needed to learn and also realistically link academic subjects with what was going on in the real world," she said.

Kids spend a lot of time preparing for Exchange City.

"There are six weeks of preparatory curriculum in the classroom, where children learn all the economics, math, language arts, civics and social studies concepts. They apply for jobs, and their role is to run their very own mini-town called Exchange City," said Mondschein.

The preparation for Exchange City is added to the normal class workload.

"Every day after lunch we'd go into a different teacher's room and learn about vocab words and how to write checks," Mel said. Writing checks and managing check registers are very important in Exchange City; students are paid by check and must go to the bank to deposit or cash them.

Students also practiced writing resumes and interviewing for jobs.

"First, we would look at the jobs in the newspaper, and then we would write down the top three jobs we would like. Then we'd write them down on the resume," explained Jay.

Exchange City offers 61 careers, including store owner, business accountant, newspaper reporter and mayor. Once the students are assigned jobs, they are ready for Exchange City, a 7,500-square-foot learning lab.

On a typical day at Exchange City, about 90 fourth-, fifth-, or sixth-graders can be seen writing checks, making popcorn, broadcasting weather news, delivering mail and creating items for sale in shops. Fourteen businesses, ranging from a bank to a sports shop to a snack shop, are arranged around a village green. Each shop is about the size of a small bedroom.

Most students were happy with their assigned jobs. Mel worked at the sports shop, and Madeline was a court clerk.

Joey was a policeman and ticketed students for walking on the village green's grass. Jay was production editor for the TV station and made a movie about life in Exchange City, and Bridget was a news reporter at the radio station.

"I liked it because I told what news was going around, but then it was really boring, 'cause the first two hours I got all my work done because it was very simple," she said.

Once the students arrived at Exchange City, they attended a meeting. After getting accustomed to their jobs, they had another town meeting, then worked until lunch.

The students took a shopping break in the afternoon, where they could buy food or other little items with their paychecks, then continued their assignments until it was time to go home.

The students agreed that shopping and lunch were their favorite activities. But there were challenges, too. Most agreed that it was hard not to step on the grass, because the grass was just green carpet that had the same texture as the rest of the floor.

The overall attitude about the day was positive.

"I think it's fun. It's different than I thought it'd be, but it definitely will help you when you grow up," said Joey.

Jay appreciated "being able to experience what my dad goes through because he is at a TV station and he does some of the same things I did, and knowing how hard it is really to make a movie."

"It helps you with what you can expect when you grow up, like there's gonna be bosses that will be telling you what to do," said Bridget.

Mondschein hopes the students will remember this experience for a long time.

"We've had students who participated 20 years ago, and they're grownups now, and they remember what they learned in Exchange City and the jobs they had and what their preparation was like," she said.

Since the Immaculate Heart students were fifth-graders, they get to return to Exchange City next year. Most are looking forward to it so they can try out new jobs; Mel wants to be a policeman "so I can give tickets."

As for Joey, "I'll look for the job that gets paid the most and the job that probably requires the least work."

To learn more, call the Junior Achievement office at 1-317-634-3519 or visit www.jaindy.org or www.experiencia.org/exchangecity.htm

ASSISTANT EDITOR : Steven Chase, 14.

REPORTER : Tara Wadelton, 12.