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WELCOME!
Welcome to the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship's newsletter, designed to keep you abreast of the range of activities and programs offered by the CEEE in Delaware. Each issue will highlight news events, CEEE staff, sponsored programs and special events. We hope that you'll find it a useful resource in promoting what we expect to be our common goal: furthering economics, personal finance and entrepreneurship education. |
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High School Personal Finance Course Continues to Grow
Responding to the growing need to expand the reach of personal finance education for young people, the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE) at the University of Delaware formed a partnership in 2001 with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Delaware Bankers Association and Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Maryland and Delaware.  Three crucial objectives were defined: 1) to develop a one-semester course in personal finance reflecting best practices in the classroom, 2) to provide high-quality training to Delaware high school teachers interested in teaching the course and 3) to incorporate the personal finance course into Delaware's recommended curriculum.
During the 2001-2002 academic year, the first Keys to Financial Success course with 40 enrolled students was piloted at Newark High School. Since then, the course has grown to include 3,500 students in  22 of the 33 public high schools throughout Delaware. This coming school year, 27 public and three private and parochial schools will offer the course, teaching over 4,500 high school students how to make sound financial decisions and achieve future financial security. In 11 of these 27 schools, personal finance will be part of a year-long economics course required of all sophomores. Moreover, this means that students in 16 of the state's 19 school districts will receive personal finance training. |
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Personal Finance Challenge
On April 25th, eight teams from seven different Delaware high schools went head to head in the 2012 Delaware Personal Finance Challenge offered by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship on the main campus of the University of Delaware. Teams of four students advanced to the Personal Finance Challenge after competing in an online preliminary testing round. The students on these high-scoring teams represented high schools throughout the state.
The first two rounds of the Challenge were comprised of individual tests that focused on money management, credit and risk. The third round tested the students' understanding of savings and investing. The combined test scores determined the two teams that would participate in the fourth and final round - the quiz bowl.
Taking the win in the quiz bowl and placing first in the overall competition was the team of Thurston Brevett, Alina Ehsan, Jack Sherry and Jeff Xu from Cab Calloway School of the Arts, coached by teacher Ed Killheffer.Team members and their coach each received $1,000, a paid trip to the national competition held in St. Louis in May and a school trophy.
Second place was awarded to the team of Lauren Gaston, Laura Federico, Akeem Norris and Keith Shoun from Smyrna High School, coached by teacher Brian Nabb. Team members and their coach each received $500 and a school trophy.
Students participating in the Personal Economics Challenge prepared for the high-stakes competition by enrolling in the Keys to Financial Success course at their respective schools or a year-long economics course. The goal of the Keys to Financial Success course is to foster prudent financial decision-making. It is the only high school program in Delaware that offers in-depth training in money management skills.
The Personal Finance Challenge is sponsored by Bank of America and the Delaware Council on Economic Education. |
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Meaningful Economics Competition
Held in Newark and Georgetown, Delaware during the last two weeks of May, the annual Meaningful Economics and Entrepreneurship (ME*) Competition provided an opportunity for third through sixth grade students to demonstrate their knowledge of economics, entrepreneurship and personal finance.
This year's ME* Competition called for student teams to design a product or service to deal with the age-old problem of waking sleeping children for school. As part of that challenge, students created and priced the product or service, gave it a catchy name, planned modes of distribution and developed a marketing plan to present to a panel of professional judges.
A team of fifth grade students invented "Snoozer Woozer," an alarm clock that wakes you up with a pleasant smell, makes your breakfast and brushes your teeth. Another fifth-grade team invented "Rock-O-Soft," a blanket that cuddles you to sleep and turns as hard as a rock in the morning, guaranteeing to wake you up. Both "Snoozer Woozer" and "Rock-O-Soft" tied for first place in their grade division.
The problem-solving activity was only one part of the ME* Competition. During the event, students also participated in a  written test and a production activity in which teams organized their members efficiently to make "Can You Buy It," a math board game. These games were then distributed to teachers around the state for use in their classrooms.
This was the 26th year of the ME* Competition and 104 teams from 21 schools across the state participated at the Newark event and 62 teams from nine schools at the Georgetown event. This annual event is sponsored through a partnership of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, the Delaware Council on Economic Education and the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute, with funding by Bank of America and Discover Bank. |
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Delaware Bankers Association Scholarship Contest
Each year students enrolled in the CEEE's high school personal finance course are eligible to participate in an essay competition sponsored in partnership with the Delaware Bankers Association (DBA). The topic of this year's essay was "How Financial Literacy Impacts My Life." Tassina Ashraf, a senior from Caesar Rodney High School, and Erin Mullen, a junior from Padua Academy, wrote the prize-winning essays. DBA provided each winner with a $2,500 scholarship at its annual banquet, held in the Gold Ballroom of the Hotel duPont where Dave Barry, a Miami Herald columnist, was the featured speaker. |
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Personal Finance Teachers Attend Training
Every summer since 2001, Delaware teachers have learned how to effectively implement the Keys to Financial Success curriculum in their classrooms by participating in a week-long training program at the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia. Offered free of charge, this program ensures that educators who are new to teaching financial literacy are well-prepared to equip their students with the tools needed for making prudent financial decisions.
Keys to Financial Success is a one-semester, personal finance course consisting of 54 lessons that engage high school students in critical thinking, problem solving and decision making. Instead of using a traditional text that would rapidly become outdated as financial products, services, regulations and laws change, the course borrows from a variety of curriculum sources, allowing teachers to update lessons to reflect the changes in the financial marketplace.
This past June, 14 Delaware teachers - along with colleagues from Pennsylvania and New Jersey - completed the week-long professional development program at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Instruction was provided by the Center's Program Coordinator, Barbara Emery, along with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Economic Advisor, Andrew Hill, and Economic Education Specialist, Todd Zartman. Teachers received educational materials to complement the Keys to Financial Success curriculum, 35 hours of professional development credit and stipends of $500.
To date, a total of 65 Delaware teachers have completed the training program. Without exception, they have given it high marks for its usefulness in teaching students how to develop sound money management skills.
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Teach Children to Save Day
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Bank of America, Preferred Products Executive & DE Market President, Chip Rossi |
As part of Delaware's 14th annual Teach Children to Save Day (TCTSD), 370 bank volunteers from 17 different Delaware banks visited elementary school classrooms and taught children the benefits of prudent money management. On April 24th and 25th, an estimated 8,500 third and fourth grade students in over 113 public, private and parochial schools throughout Delaware learned the importance of saving and making informed spending choices. This year's lesson on compound interest was based on the children's book, The Great Investo and The Abounding, Astounding, Compounding Machine, written and illustrated by Greg Koseluk of the Delaware Bankers Association (DBA), with Dr. Bonnie Meszaros, Associate Director of the University of Delaware's Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE), serving as educational consultant. Students participating in TCTSD received activity books related to the lesson and teachers received copies for classroom use.
Governor Jack Markell proclaimed the week of April 23rd "Delaware Teach Children to Save Week" in a ceremony held at South Dover Elementary School.
Jaiden Palmer from Pleasantville Elementary School won $100 for placing first in the TCTSD poster contest. Lucy Brackin and Michelle Kozicki from St. Mary Magdalen Elementary School each won $50 for second place.
The partnership between the DBA and the CEEE was established in 1998 to promote financial literacy in elementary schools in Delaware. Since then, the CEEE has developed a variety of financial lessons that meet the Delaware economic standards and each year trains hundreds of bank volunteers to teach those lessons to Delaware students on Teach Children to Save Day. |
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