Play Money: At McGehee, Students Learn Dollars and Sense

02/22/2008

Maria Montoya, Staff Writer for the Times-Picayune, profiles financial literacy programs at Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans:

Louise S. McGehee School third-grader Lizzie Stockmeyer is only 9, but she's already tackled one of life's most painful lessons: To spend money, one must make money.

"Everyone likes chocolate cookies, and most girls love purses, that's why I am selling purses with cookies in them," Lizzie said as she held up a hot pink, fuzzy-fabric purse that she made after ordering the pattern off the Internet.

Classmates clamored to get a look at her merchandise. "I sold 14 purses quick!" she said. "My friends like that for $5 you get two things, not just one."

Each month, as part of a schoolwide program to promote financial literacy, third- through 12th-grade students at McGehee study the fundamentals of real-life economics. McGehee Headmistress Eileen Powers assigned faculty member Carla Robertson the task of implementing a program, modeled after the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy's national standards, that would empower their students to make sound financial decisions in the future.
 

Full Story In New Orleans Times-Picayune »