Money a mystery? Kids bank on education - FINANCIAL-24
Money matters can be mysterious to children, but they don’t have to be.
Leaders of a Fort Myers-based organization called the Freedom & Virtue Institute have teamed with a credit union and bank to remove the mystery. Eight students — fourth through seventh graders from Bonita Springs Charter School — visited the Achieva Credit Union in Estero one day in late May to learn about what happens in a credit union or bank, along with the basics of money management.
Other schools in larger groups have taken part in the program as well, including Trafalgar Middle, The Sanibel School, The Heights Foundation, Manatee Elementary and Bonita Springs Middle School. BB&T is also a partner, recently hosting two of the schools.
Charlie Stirzel, branch manager for Achieva’s location in Estero, welcomed the children. He asked them what they have done in a bank.
You go there and get a lollipop, one said. You sit and wait, said another.
Stirzel explained a little about what goes on there and offered advice: “A really important part of your future is to save money. It’s important to start as early as you can.” Before long, the students were separated into two groups and introduced to stations: a teller pod, a coin machine, an ATM, the back of an ATM. They learned how to deposit and withdraw money and use a coin counter. Students also got to see the vault, which looks more like a big safe, as well as a machine that counts paper money.
Jamison Edlin, a member service adviser, discussed the concepts of needs versus wants and paying yourself first.
“What happens to Mom and Dad when they come into these offices? We’re trying to help them achieve their financial goals,” he said.
Once the students get a job later in life, Edlin urged them not to live paycheck to paycheck and not to borrow more funds than necessary.
“Saving 10 percent: if you can do that, it will change your whole financial future,” he said.
Ismael Hernandez, the institute’s executive director, explained that the organization works with existing clubs at the schools.
“What we want to do is teach entrepreneurship, teach self-reliance and teach the connection between reward and accomplishment,” he said. “We want to teach them about banking, but more than that about earning their way in life so the activity at the bank is the end of a whole year of entrepreneurship activities at the schools.” Paige Mell, a teacher at Bonita Springs Middle School, accompanied a group of honors students — seventh and eighth graders — to Achieva Credit Union on a separate field trip in May.
“They are really nice and good with the kids,” she said of the staff at the credit union. “The kids asked a lot of questions. They were very patient with their explanations.”
Many students talked about what they learned with their peers who didn’t go, Mell said, with some of those conversations branching out into how much money can be earned depending on the career.
“It expands it into a whole new thing for them,” she said. “They are starting to understand a lot more about what it takes to get to the various professions.”
Mell think a big takeaway from the field trip for the students is in understanding that smart money management can ensure they don’t encounter financial woes once they are in the working world.
“They all took away that they should be using part of their money to go back to something else,” she said. “It helps them get a new appreciation.”
Leaders of a Fort Myers-based organization called the Freedom & Virtue Institute have teamed with a credit union and bank to remove the mystery. Eight students — fourth through seventh graders from Bonita Springs Charter School — visited the Achieva Credit Union in Estero one day in late May to learn about what happens in a credit union or bank, along with the basics of money management.
Other schools in larger groups have taken part in the program as well, including Trafalgar Middle, The Sanibel School, The Heights Foundation, Manatee Elementary and Bonita Springs Middle School. BB&T is also a partner, recently hosting two of the schools.
Charlie Stirzel, branch manager for Achieva’s location in Estero, welcomed the children. He asked them what they have done in a bank.
You go there and get a lollipop, one said. You sit and wait, said another.
Stirzel explained a little about what goes on there and offered advice: “A really important part of your future is to save money. It’s important to start as early as you can.” Before long, the students were separated into two groups and introduced to stations: a teller pod, a coin machine, an ATM, the back of an ATM. They learned how to deposit and withdraw money and use a coin counter. Students also got to see the vault, which looks more like a big safe, as well as a machine that counts paper money.
Jamison Edlin, a member service adviser, discussed the concepts of needs versus wants and paying yourself first.
“What happens to Mom and Dad when they come into these offices? We’re trying to help them achieve their financial goals,” he said.
Once the students get a job later in life, Edlin urged them not to live paycheck to paycheck and not to borrow more funds than necessary.
“Saving 10 percent: if you can do that, it will change your whole financial future,” he said.
Ismael Hernandez, the institute’s executive director, explained that the organization works with existing clubs at the schools.
“What we want to do is teach entrepreneurship, teach self-reliance and teach the connection between reward and accomplishment,” he said. “We want to teach them about banking, but more than that about earning their way in life so the activity at the bank is the end of a whole year of entrepreneurship activities at the schools.” Paige Mell, a teacher at Bonita Springs Middle School, accompanied a group of honors students — seventh and eighth graders — to Achieva Credit Union on a separate field trip in May.
“They are really nice and good with the kids,” she said of the staff at the credit union. “The kids asked a lot of questions. They were very patient with their explanations.”
Many students talked about what they learned with their peers who didn’t go, Mell said, with some of those conversations branching out into how much money can be earned depending on the career.
“It expands it into a whole new thing for them,” she said. “They are starting to understand a lot more about what it takes to get to the various professions.”
Mell think a big takeaway from the field trip for the students is in understanding that smart money management can ensure they don’t encounter financial woes once they are in the working world.
“They all took away that they should be using part of their money to go back to something else,” she said. “It helps them get a new appreciation.”
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