Third graders learn to manage money

As elementary school students walked in to the program room at the Monroe County Public Library on Wednesday, the first things they saw were three tables full of candy, toys and school supplies.

Students in Free Enterprise sponsored a free interactive program called Smart Cookie Banking where children aged 8 to 11 learned the importance of interest and saving money. With the use of the candy, toys and supplies children were asked whether or not they would like to spend $35 in fake money right away, or wait and save it to gain interest.

“Financial literacy is a big problem, and when kids are little they are surrounded by messages of consume, consume, consume, but they receive few messages of save save, save,” SIFE faculty advisor Mary Embry said. “Through this project they learn that you can save your money for later, you don’t have to use it right away.”

By the end, the five third graders who attended the program better understood the concept of saving money and had fun making their own independent choices about how to spend it.

“I thought it was interesting and I had never done it before, it was really fun,” Paige Plucker, 9, said. “I learned more about interest and saving money.”

The IU-Bloomington chapter of SIFE is a student group that supports service-based learning through business. SIFE competed against 390 applicants to win a grant through HSBC Bank to fund Smart Cookie Banking.

This year SIFE has sponsored seven different programs including Fair Trade Bloomington that educates people on the benefits of fair trade. Through this program they helped open the store Global Gifts located in downtown Bloomington. The Fair Trade Bloomington project took six years to finish.

“The important thing is that we create the projects on our own, so it teaches us a lot,” SIFE member Elana Borchers said. “We want to make our projects more than just a PowerPoint presentation, that’s why it takes a while.”

Through the Smart Cookie Banking workshop, SIFE members hope the children understand the motto of Students in Free Enterprise, learning to create a more sustainable world through the positive power of business.

“Hopefully they learn what the concept of saving is and the significance of interest, in the future I hope it shows them how to save more and make better decisions,” Smart Cookie Banking project leader Nina Singh said.