ATLANTA—Georgia State University this week debuted its shop in Junior Achievement’s Finance Park, a new educational facility focused on teaching middle students about financial management in the World Congress Center.

About 30,000 students from the Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb County Schools, Fulton County Schools and Marietta City Schools will participate in the program this academic year. It is part of the mandatory curriculum in the schools districts.

Georgia State, the only university in Finance Park, joins major corporations such Delta, Belk, Georgia Power, SunTrust, AT&T and Assurant in the facility. In the Georgia State shop students will learn about the value of higher education and the distinctive qualities of Georgia State. They also can personalize a simulated dormitory room and take a photo of it.

“Georgia State is Atlanta’s downtown university, and we are intricately connected to the city’s major companies and organizations,” said Georgia State President Mark P. Becker. “Finance Park symbolizes those connections, but more important, it is an exciting new tool to help us convey the value and importance of education to students at a critical time in their lives.”

Finance Park is part of Junior Achievement’s Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center, which also includes BizTown, where sixth graders will receive job assignments and work in teams at their assigned businesses. Seventh and eighth graders will get a life situation with job, income, education and family scenarios in Finance Park where they will learn to manage their personal finances.

The first cohort of 300 students participated in the Discovery Center today.