Heritage High students share financial lessons with elementary schoolers
Posted: October 20, 2023
Heritage High School students conducted a Jump$tart Teen Teach-in October 19 to share financial literacy lessons with students at Newsome Park Elementary School.
Several Heritage students conducted mini-lessons for students in grades 2, 4 and 5. The event was part of a national initiative with the Jump$tart Coalition, as well as the school division's partnership with BayPort Student Credit Union.
The Teen Teach-in offers high school students a way to demonstrate the financial knowledge they've gained and share it with their elementary school counterparts in a fun teaching and learning activity, according to the coalition's website. The Teen Teach-in is designed to raise public awareness about the need for effective classroom-based financial empowerment, with more than 50 teachers in 33 states participating.
Tiffanie Smith, activities director and business and information technology teacher at Heritage as well asNNPS BayPort Student Credit Union liaison, selected students to participate in her first time participating in the Teach-in program. Two of the students are currently employed by BayPort Credit Union as student tellers at Heritage's in-house branch.
"The National Jump$tart Coalition sent an invitation to several teachers throughout the various states to participate," Smith said. "It was a privilege to get the invite and I contacted Dr. Darria White, principal at Newsome Park, and she eagerly said yes."
In the three classrooms, the "Teen Teachers" had the attention of all students, according to Smith. A lesson on managing needs versus wants was taught at all three grade levels.
"To see the interaction and the responses to the activities was amazing," Smith said. "I am looking forward to doing more work with other classes and schools. I will be providing the teachers with additional resources to continue the conversation around financial literacy. BayPort provided me with small tokens to give to the students at the end."
