FARMINGTON – One hundred fifth-grade students from the Cascade Brook School participated in Exchange City, a national hands-on education program operating in Portsmouth, N.H.

After receiving 30 hours of in-classroom preparation by their teachers, students traveled to Exchange City, a 10,000-square-foot life-like city with 14 businesses and government offices.

Students were able to take on roles in venues that include a bank, restaurant, newspaper, radio station, technology shop, multi-service center, post office, sports shop and wellness center.

Executive Director Philip Ross said, “Exchange City is a remarkable hands-on business and economics learning experience for fifth- through ninth-grade students. New Hampshire’s Exchange City is the only city built for and run by students in the northeast.”

Experiencia Inc., headquartered in Chicago, s the creator and owner of Exchange City and the sister Immersive Learning program EarthWorks, a hands-on science program based on the same immersive learning model as Exchange City.

Experiencia is leading the national expansion of Exchange City and has partnered with the Cody Foundation to bring Exchange City to New Hampshire middle school, high school and college students.

To prepare for their visit, Cascade Brook students, over the past six weeks, have had to complete resumes, fill out job applications and have real job interviews before getting hired at a company in the city. On May 11 the students journeyed to Exchange City to take on their realistic adult roles as business owners, employees, consumers and citizens.

In addition to the teachers, parents were also invited to participate in the program, volunteering in each one of the 14 city venues and acting as a support to the students. One volunteer, Allan Smith, accompanied Cascade Brook students during their visit to Exchange City for the fourth year in a row.

“This is a good program” he noted, “It is fun and it is great to see how the students adapt to the challenges. The teachers are also very enthused.”

Customized sponsorship packages as well as opportunities to subsidize classroom participation are available to any business wishing to financially support Exchange City.