Governor Haley Barbour proclaimed
November 7-11, 2011 as “A Banker in Every Classroom Week” in Mississippi. During this week, over 300 bankers joined
local teachers throughout the state to present lessons in personal finance in
grades K through 12.
The Mississippi Bankers Association
and the Mississippi Council on Economic Education are co-sponsoring this
project, presented in public and private schools.
Mac Deaver, president of the
Mississippi Bankers Association, says that there is a critical need for
enhanced financial education among the state’s young people. “Bankers and teachers both recognize this
need, and this project focuses on getting them together to work to benefit
students,” he said. “This week is
just the beginning; we want to build relationships that will lead to more joint
activities.”
With hundreds of classroom sessions
scheduled during the week, and more to be set during the rest of the school
year, “A Banker in Every Classroom” was one of the biggest financial
education projects in Mississippi schools in a long time.
Selena Swartzfager, president of the
Mississippi Council on Education, says K-12 teachers and students will benefit
from the partnerships built by this week long program. “The Mississippi
Council on Economic Education works tirelessly year round to train K-12
teachers in the areas of economics, entrepreneurship and personal finance,” she
said. “We are happy to work with the Mississippi Bankers Association to
connect teachers with bankers. The Mississippi Council has trained 8,000
teachers since its inception, and these teachers can use the support of bankers
in teaching financial literacy skills in the classroom.”
Deaver cites MCEE’s long record of
training teachers in economic and financial subjects, and the MBA’s financial
education program, delivered through member banks in every county, as providing
a springboard for the new project.
“Bringing local teachers and bankers together is very exciting,” Deaver
said. “We look for this project to
continue and grow.”
Teachers and bankers registered
separately for the program, indicating preferences for schools and grade levels
in their local areas. Then, teachers and
bankers were “matched” to form teams to make classroom presentations. Each team was provided with age-appropriate
personal finance materials. “Some
sessions focused on savings, credit, budgeting, and other specific topics,”
Deaver said. “And some were
question-and-answer sessions on personal finance issues, or even a discussion
of careers in banking.” The teachers and
bankers determined the content of all presentations, he added.