Three local teachers received this year’s Learning for Life Teaching Awards, presented by Central Bank and the Eastern Kentucky University Center for Economic Education.
Recipients were Wanda Wilson, a second-grade teacher at Daniel Boone Elementary School, and the partnership of Demetria Rogers and Ragan Knuckles, who taught fourth-graders at Waco Elementary School. Central Bank and the EKU Center for Economic Education established the award to stimulate and recognize development and advancement in teaching decision making and problem solving with applications to personal finance, economics and entrepreneurship.
Wilson implemented a Junior Achievement program that focused on “Our Community.” She brought in Chris Douglas, a community volunteer who taught the students interactive lessons about business, government and the circular flow of money. Wilson said the program “allowed the students to see the connection between home, school and community,” and she intends to use the program again next year.
Rogers, director of the Family Resource Center, and Knuckles, the school counselor, modified the “Dollars & Sense” 4-H curriculum and taught lessons about financial decision making. They collaborated with community volunteers and students from Clark Moores Middle School to send students through a real-world simulation where the fourth-graders interacted with businesses and agencies that were “operated” by the middle school students and other volunteers. The elementary students had to make financial decisions about everyday issues. The annual event involves students and the community in fun and learning.
“Students were engaged in making decisions about real-world concerns in both of these projects,” said Dr. Cynthia Harter, director of the EKU Center for Economic Education, “and we are pleased to honor these educators with recognition and monetary awards to highlight their commitment to preparing Madison County students for life outside the classroom.”
For more information about the Central Bank Learning for Life Teaching Award, contact Harter at cynthia.harter@eku.edu.