Partners for What's Next: Wells Fargo's Impact on Central Iowa Students

Image caption: JA BizTown students take on real-world roles as CEOs, CFOs, and tellers, gaining hands-on experience in the Wells Fargo storefront while building and using valuable skills needed to succeed in rapidly changing world.

Often, it’s more than a classroom, a textbook or a test that prepares students for the future. Students need opportunities to build skills they will use in the workplace and in everyday life. They need to practice making decisions, communicating with others, managing budgets, solving problems and working as part of a team. Most importantly, they need opportunities to build confidence to take those skills into the real world.

For years, Wells Fargo has been a strong partner in helping Junior Achievement of Central Iowa create those opportunities for students. Through its longstanding support, Wells Fargo is helping expand access to career-connected learning experiences that bridge the gap between what students learn in the classroom to what they will encounter in the workforce and beyond.

Imagine a student walking into JA BizTown for the first time. They may know what a CEO or bank teller does from a textbook or have an idea of what it means to manage money. But now, they have a role to play. They have responsibilities to manage, decisions to make and a team counting on them. Suddenly, the lessons they have been learning in the classroom feel a little different.

Through its partnership with JA of Central Iowa, Wells Fargo helps bring these “learn by doing” moments to life by sponsoring both a storefront in JA BizTown and a pod in JA Finance Park. At JA BizTown, students step into real-world roles such as CEO, CFO and bank teller, working together to operate businesses and navigate challenges. At JA Finance Park, they strengthen their personal financial decision-making skills as they manage budgets, weigh priorities and make choices that can impact their financial futures.

Image caption: Looking back at moments like this reminds us of the lasting impact of JA BizTown over the past 25 years. Through the years, Wells Fargo’s support and volunteers have helped bring the student experience to life.

For a student, these moments can be meaningful. Making decisions, working through a challenge or taking on a new responsibility creates an opportunity to discover something about themselves. Maybe they find they enjoy leading a team. Maybe they realize they are good at solving problems. Or maybe they simply leave with a little more confidence than they had when they walked in.

“JA BizTown was fun and interesting. It tested me on how good I was with handling money and leading,” said a JA BizTown student from Gilbert Middle School. “JA BizTown was a great place for kids to learn about jobs and their futures,” said another JA BizTown Student.

That is the value of experiential learning. Students are not just hearing about skills like communication, collaboration or financial literacy. They are practicing them. They get to make choices, see the results and learn from the experience in an environment designed to prepare them for the world beyond the classroom.

Image caption: A group of Wells Fargo volunteers at JA Finance Park dedicating their time, energy, and enthusiasm to help bring the skills and knowledge to succeed in the future to life and give students a hands-on experience they’ll remember.

Wells Fargo’s support helps make these opportunities possible for students across Central Iowa. But the partnership is about more than sponsoring spaces where learning happens. It is also about the people who step into those spaces and share their time, knowledge and experience.

In the 2025-2026 school year, 49 Wells Fargo employees have volunteered with JA, helping students connect what they are learning to the experiences and expectations of the workplace. Their presence gives students an opportunity to interact with professionals, ask questions and see the many different paths that can lead from the classroom to a career.

“You can see a lightbulb go on when students realize these aren’t just lessons. These are skills that they’ll actually use in life,” said JA Finance Park Volunteer Coordinator, Amanda Oleson. “Wells Fargo volunteers help make that connection real.”

Wells Fargo’s commitment to JA is also reflected in its leadership. Laura Howe serves on the JA Board of Directors, while Nathaniel Herron serves on JA’s Emerging Leaders Board. Their involvement helps strengthen the partnership and advance JA’s mission of preparing students for What’s Next!

When businesses and community organizations come together to create opportunities like these, the impact can extend well beyond a single day at JA. Students gain the chance to explore careers, practice skills and discover strengths they may not have known they had. Volunteers have the opportunity to invest directly in the next generation. And the community benefits from young people who are better prepared to take their next steps.

For a student, learning by doing can turn a lesson into something they remember. It can turn a decision into confidence, a challenge into a new skill and a role at JA BizTown or JA Finance Park into a glimpse of what might be possible.

Through its partnership with Junior Achievement of Central Iowa, Wells Fargo is helping students do more than prepare for the future. It is giving them opportunities to begin imagining themselves in it.

That is what it means to be a partner for What’s Next.