On a recent Tuesday morning, about a dozen educators peered through a doorway to watch a flurry of activity inside a UPMC medical office. Just steps away, they watched employees inside a tiny Giant Eagle outpost managing inventory, then listened as a team at a Cochran car dealership discussed sales. Meanwhile, a group of FedEx employees hurried by, delivering packages to a dozen other local businesses — or, well, “businesses” — all being run by kids.
The visiting educators witnessing this bustling community — each of them a member of the Remake Learning network — weren’t wandering along a typical Main Street. They were inside the world of JA Biz Town, a remarkably lifelike learning space at Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania, in Bridgeville.
Just hearing about Biz Town will likely impress you: It offers nearly two-dozen realistic storefronts filled with authentic equipment, and an interactive curriculum designed in partnership with local employers that lets visiting students actually do jobs in key industries.
After a few weeks of advance prep at school, kids spend an immersive half-day managing Biz Town themselves as business owners, employees and consumers, actively applying financial and professional principles in this artfully designed simulation.
But as interesting as that may sound when you read about it, the idea of it pales in comparison to the experience of actually going to Biz Town.
HANDS-ON LEARNING FOR EDUCATORS, TOO
At a Meet Your Neighbors event co-hosted by Junior Achievement (JA) and Remake Learning on March 24, school district and out-of-school-time educators had the chance to explore JA’s Experiential Learning Center in person.
They were also able to connect with one another — a refreshing face-to-face experience in a world where we so often interact with others digitally.
New relationships and collaborations strengthen a learning ecosystem and keep it growing. To make this happen, gathering in large groups can be inspiring. Remake Learning community members experienced that last fall at the Remake Learning Assembly. (Don’t miss the 2026 Assembly, scheduled for Friday, Sept, 25, at the Children’s Museum’s North Side campus).
When more than a hundred people gather, many relationships are deepened and new connections are formed in a single afternoon. Members of the region’s learning ecosystem can network and share inspiration, getting glimpses of a great many resources and child-serving organizations all at once.
But meeting in smaller groups has its own power. So the ongoing series of Meet Your Neighbors events was designed on a deliberately smaller scale, to allow for longer conversations and powerful one-on-one connections.
CONNECTING WHILE LEARNING TOGETHER
The March 24 Meet Your Neighbors event began with a light breakfast, where Remake Learning’s executive director Tyler Samstag and director of relationships Stephanie Lewis welcomed the group.
“We recognize that there are so many cool spaces around the Greater Pittsburgh region,” Samstag explained. “Our goal is to bring people to these spaces, and experience these spaces. But ultimately, the goal is also for you all to connect with one another, to hopefully be inspired here.”
The group was small enough that everyone had a chance to introduce themselves.
A number of attendees, including Dragon’s Den founder and executive director Giulia Lozza Petrucci, are recipients of Remake Learning’s Moonshot Grant funding, and were able to share their experiences and their enthusiasm.
“I’ve been connected with Remake Learning for a long time,” Lozza Petrucci said. “I love everything they do. So I’m happy to be here.”
During a session in one of the classrooms at the Experiential Learning Center, Patrice Matamoros, JA’s regional president for Western Pennsylvania, and Toni Schlieper, strategic director of education, gave a detailed picture of the curriculum and the goals that drive their work.
They also introduced Reese Sequite, a Butler High School student who participates in JA’s 18 Under 18 program. Created five years ago to create leadership opportunities for teens throughout the Pittsburgh region, the program helps high schoolers build career and networking skills while providing an ongoing community for teens as they grow.
“What we’re trying to do is identify talent for the region,” Matamoros said. “Our goal is that if we have talent here, why don’t we keep them here and show them the opportunities that they have around them?”
After talking with Matamoros, Schlieper and Sequite, and touring the various Biz Town storefronts, attendees had time to reflect while having lunch.
Laura McGee, director of community outreach at Bella Terra Stables (also a Moonshot recipient), connected over sandwiches with Josie Rodell, program coordinator at Center of Life in Hazelwood.
As they spoke about the work both of their organizations do with students, McGee had the opportunity to tell Rodell and other attendees about the upcoming Meet Your Neighbors event that she and her colleagues will be hosting at Bella Terra’s headquarters in Murrysville on May 21.
McGee explained that the educational and therapeutic work that Bella Terra does with students has many benefits. And while their focus is often on mental health and wellbeing, it even connects to workforce readiness — much like the program that she and the other attendees had been witnessing at JA all morning.
Gesturing to Rodell, she told the other attendees: “I was just sharing that to lead a horse, you have to have a goal. You have to look at that goal. And you have to walk confidently and you never look back. Now, how do you get a job?”
A wave of understanding and nods of acknowledgement filled the room.
“So, if you want to come to the stables, we can talk,” McGee said, smiling warmly. “And when you come, if you come, please dress comfortably, because it’s going to be May at a farm!”
Meet the Storytellers
Melissa Rayworth
Melissa Rayworth is a writer for regional and global news outlets, and a communications consultant who works with people, foundations and companies to tease out and tell their stories across media.
Ben Filio
Ben Filio is a project manager and creative storyteller in Pittsburgh, PA. He has been documenting Remake Learning for more than a decade.