- Avondale Elementary School
- Homepage
Scottwood Students Learn the Importance of Purchasing Power with Junior Achievement
February 13, 2023 -- Students at Scottwood Elementary School are discovering why they should purchase food before a scooter in a financial literacy session from Junior Achievement.
“I’m helping children to learn something that they’re going to need to know in the future. They’re going to need to know the basic economics of what to do with their money,” said Junior Achievement volunteer Jennette Lawson.
Lawson was one of several volunteers who joined Junior Achievement on Friday, January 27, to educate students about how to handle money.
“It’s a great way to give back to the community using what skills and knowledge I have,” Lawson said.
Junior Achievement is a non-profit organization that uses community volunteers to visit students across the country and provide them with financial knowledge and skills. Lawson serves as a Vice President for Chase Bank but said she visits schools about once a year to share her financial insight with kids.
This year Lawson spent time with first and second graders at Scottwood Elementary, working with them on the differences between wants and needs.
“So, there are the three basics, food, clothing and shelter. We had an interactive activity where I held up cards with pictures on them and the kids told me if it was a need or want. We then recorded that on a poster and then talked about buying things you need before the things you want. They said they were going to buy a scooter first, then I told them they may not be able to ride the scooter if they’re hungry,” Lawson said.
Students were broken up into groups and given cards with different occupations. Their goal was to exchange money based on what others in their class could offer. First grader Aniyah Peck said she did her best only to purchase the things she needed.
“We can’t always buy what we want because we don’t need it. I accidentally bought things that I want, I bought a computer,” Peck said.
Junior Achievement creates lessons for volunteers to use when working with students. Each lesson is different based on the age level of the students involved. Lawson said she’s worked with fourth and fifth graders in previous years to help them understand how entrepreneurship works. She said while there are several financial lessons students can learn, it’s teaching them anything new that she enjoys.
“They respond really well. They just seem so thankful and for me personally it’s heartwarming. I want them to know that they matter. The fact that they’re learning matters, that they have the capability to understand finance and that they can do it. These things are important because it helps to shape their life and the decisions they make.”